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Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1880, by 

SEXTUS P. GODDARD, 
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



PREFACE. 



Published as this book is, for my own use and that 
of a few friends, the writing of a preface for it would 
be an entirely superfluous work, were it not for the 
certainty of its being sometimes seen by others. 

To such, the fact that it was not written for the 
public, but only for myself, or each piece on the spur 
of the moment for some friend or particular occasion, 
must excuse its many imperfections or any plagiarisms 
of expression that may be found herein, it being often 
difficult to distinguish between what memory presents 
and the combinations of one 's own fancy. 

Some of the pieces are merely school-boy composi- 
tions. Some but the escaping vapor from the safety 
valve of some feeling or passion, when pressed beyond 
endurance by the superheated steam beneath. Some 
are the product of an idle hour on steamer or rail 



4 PREFACE. 

car. Some of times when, riding or tramping alone, 
almost unconsciously my thoughts have run in rhythm 
and some fragments of them have been hastily written 
there. Some are the poor tribute of my love for dear 
friends in the far beyond. 

The longest piece, entitled "The Problem of Life," 
is but a collection of short pieces, written at different 
times, far apart, and from very different motives, and 
fitted with a prologue and an epilogue, and connected 
in its various parts by links more or less appropriate, 
for just the purpose of leaving it to my children as a 
concise epitome of my spiritual convictions. 

Those to whom or for whom they were written, and 
those for whom they are now published, will, I know, 
overlook their many crudities and imperfections. 

s. P. G. 

Worcester, July 15, 1880. 



Deae "Lelia," 

To whom in inmost shrine of soul 
Love 's purest thrills of joy ecstatic roll, 
I dedicate this book to thee, and know 
A smile of love from thee for me shall glow; 
Because the crystallized poetic thought 
Which lies beneath these husks of language wrought, 
Found life within the sunshine from thy soul, 
Which has with reflex light illumed life's whole. 

Dear memories, drifting from far-away days, 
Are borne by the breezes, where 
Fair fancy freely floats : 
Compilations of thus suggested song, long 
After, seem but burdened craft, 
Before, bright bonnie boats. 

Recitative rhythms, which will here appear, 
Seem dear, dim, recurrent dreams 
Of old odorous odes ; 
Replete with thought of father, mother, brother 
And sister, with all the band, 
Marking my many moods 



DEDICATION. 

Of other clays ; singing the purest, truest 
Life loves : of lover and wife ; 
Choice comforting children; 
Partially developed endeavor ever 
For what is right to labor; 
Measuring model men. 

These dedication lines I write, that they may 
Pay tribute to Emily, 

Whose wisdom words were wrought 
Into inmost fibre of my soul. So do 
I, the more conveniently 

To tell time 's tempered thought. 



MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 



CHILDHOOD.* 

" There 's a beauty that ever unchangingly glows, 
Like the long sunny lapse of a summer day 's close, 
Shining on, shining on, by no changes made tender, 
Till love falls asleep in its sameness of splendor." 
Such beauty, true, may charm the eye — 

May fascinate the heart ; 
But beauty that glows on childhood 's cheek 

And glistens in the eye, 
Plays with her waving ringlets 
And is as silver in the sky — 
Such beauty, though changing, will draw us away 
Toward the Heaven where children forever may play. 

There is music that slowly and solemnly rolls, 
Like the low moaning sea-tones, over our souls ; 
Moaning on, moaning on, by no changes made sweeter, 
Till melody sleeps in monotonous metre. 

Such music, true, may charm our ears — 
May permeate our souls ; 



* Read in response to a " Toast " to " The Poet of Petersham," at the 
Sabbath School Celebration in that town, July 4th, 1866. Written same 
morning. 



10 CHILDHOOD. 

But music that 's born where children laugh — 

That trembles through their tears — 
Is echoed by their pattering feet 

And chords through all their hopes and fears — 
Such music our feelings yet nearer will bring 
To the Heaven where children forever may sing. 

There 's a power that ever unchangingly reigns : 
'Tis our own selfish love, binding all in its chains; 
Eeigning on, reigning on, by no changes made lighter; 
As time closes round us but binding the tighter. 
Such power may seem to serve us here — 

May antiquate our name ; 
But power of Love on children 's hearts 

Will beautify them here, 
And, like a silver streamlet 

Reflecting light, may bring it near, 
This glorious power will bear us above 
To the Heaven where children forever may love. 



TO HANNAH. 

I have dreamed of thee oft, ray darling, 

'Mid scenes of sorrow and pain, 
And often with pleasure remember 
The scenes of that time again, 

When standing beside me in marriage, 
With bloom and beauty of youth, 

We plighted our troth and affection, 
Mere buddings of love and truth ; 

Which, watered by tears and fed by faith, 
Have bloomed, bright flowers of life, 

Whose fragrance shall prove a gift to soothe 
'Mid the scenes of camp and strife; 

Whose leaves may fall in a weary world 
To soften the cares of time — 

A bed for the seed which, starting here, 
Shall fruit in another clime. 

Though far from thee straying, my darling, 

I ever shall think of thee, 
And know one heart is beating with love, 

Attuned to vibrate for me. 



12 TO HANNAH. 

And then when sick and weary of life, 
When faith is failing,- and hope 

Grows dim and flickers and fades away, 
And leaves me alone to grope 

In this wide and wicked world of time, 
Then my heart shall turn to thee, 

And rest with joy in the fervent love 
Which I know thou bearest me. 

Then rest we forever, my darling, 
In a love so sweet and pure, 

And pray with a faith that knows no nay, 
That it ever may endure. 

Franklin Barracks, New York City, Dec. 13, 1862. 



THE FOREST AT MIDNIGHT. 

I love through devious forest ways, 

To walk at midnight's hour, 
Or stand on the brink of its rugged steeps, 

To witness Nature 's power, 

When the storm-king 's hordes are marshaled there, 

The lightning bolt is given, 
And all material things convulsed, 

By Nature's forces riven. 

To gaze through moss-grown trees that point 
To blinking worlds beyond, 

Heaven's sentinels, whose watch-fires come and go- 
As if some magic wand 

Had wrought o'er them its mystic spell — 
Like the fire-fly's flickering lamp, 
Illuming hill and dell; 

To listen to the footfalls breaking 

The stillness of the night, 
And to the silence that around me 

Seems waiting for the light: 



14 THE FOREST AT MIDNIGHT. 

The while that through the tangled masses 

Of the branches overhead, 
The moonbeams and the starlight's shimmer 

Shadow the paths I tread ; 

And ever like some wandering wind tone, 
Through the pine trees singing, 

I discern musicians of the spheres 
Richest chords a ringing, 

From out the deepest darkness of the night, 

Into my inmost soul, 
Tuning darkness, distance and silence 

To one harmonious whole. 



Peteksham, June, 1878. 



OUR HARVEST OF HOPES. 

Beautiful visions of multiform youth, 

Where are the friendships, the loves and the truth, 

Illuming the future 's long winter with light, 
And bringing rich veins of promise to sight ? 

Where in the past have ye buried them all 
That they come not now at memory's call? 

For I have toiled in many weary ways, 
To realize the hopes of other days ; 

But oft as fancy brings any to light, 

They dissolve and fade in darkness and night, 

And hard rough knocks of this toiling earth 
Move into their place — Oh, what is it worth 

Thus ever to strive for hopes that arise 
Like rainbow colors to dazzle our eyes. 

The scattering drops of a passing shower 
Detain the rainbow glories scarce an hour. 



16 OUR HARVEST OF HOPES. 

So hopes that in youth o'er our life-path shone 
Grow dim and fade out and leave us alone: 

Alone with the life that before us lies — 
That life Youth pictured a glorious prize, 

Whose wildest wastes were strewn with richest gems, 
And every contest crowned with diadems. 

All gone — passed on beyond our keenest gaze 
Are those clear visions of our youthful days, 

But we shall hope there yet may be, beyond 
The clouds and mists that veil our life's despond, 

Some place where we life 's long lost loves regain, 
And hopes renew that long have dormant lain. 

Ah, yes — for never yet one ray of light 
Kevealed some scene of earth-life to our sight, 

But fading, it was photographed somewhere, 
And in the coming time shall still be there. 

Nor ever yet has any where a tone 

Brought to our soul some thought or something done, 



OUR HARVEST OF HOPES. 17 

But that God's phonograph has record given, 
And we in coming time, oh, be it heaven 

For us, shall find each look, each tone, each thought, 
Each aspiration to the record brought, 

And learn, with all the harvest gathered in 

From time's wild mountains where our life work's been, 

The need that darkness, cold and wet should come : 
They, with the sunshine, bring the harvest home. 

Denver, Colorado, March, 1878. 



A MUSE. 

At the pause and rest from labor, 
When the mind is free from care — 
From the whirl of life 's commotion - 
I would plan to do and dare. 

In the forest 's depths then straying, 
I would seek some sheltered bower 
In which to coin the dream of life, 
And muse of a brighter hour, 



IS . A MUSE. 

And through the darkened glass of life, 
By the light of Ilope to view 
The joyous scenes I e'en might wish 
Of my life-path here were true. 

To dream of joy the poets know 

When the muse their hearts inspires, 

And earth and heaven are coursed by them 

To attune With hope their lyres. 

Then would I dream the hero's dream 
When he puts his armor on, 
And bravely fights for those he loves, 
Till death, with the victory won. 

I fain would dream of loving hearts 
When they join their lives as one, 
Nobly fight the battle of life, 
Prove faithful till life is done. 

I 'd dream of these, and through such dreams 
Would give my life to action ; 
Battling manfully for truth 
Until its resurrection. 

Petersham, June, 1859. 



CRYSTALLIZED DRIFT. 

Far below the swell of ocean 's 

Wildest commotions, 
There are waters self-resistant 
To the fiercest ocean tempests 

That scourge the gem-crests 
Across its breast persistent. 

Lighted by reflected sunshine, 

Forces wild combine 
To build from waste the waves and winds 
Concentering wrest from island 

And the broken shoreland, 
From debris of various kinds, 

Ever drifting on the water 

From every quarter, 
By the ceaseless tide uplifted, 
Or sifted from out embrasures 

Of thawing glaciers 
From polar regions drifted, 

To where some aerolite's descent 
Has the substance spent 



20 CRYSTALLIZED DRIFT. 

Which it distilled from stellar space 's 
Unknown and limitless expanse, 

Gaining by advance 
More material, to place 

Down where coral insect forces, 

Increasing courses 
Fashion to adamantine rocks ; 
Where the ocean's terra firma, 

Supernumerary- 
Drift and coral interlocks. 

So, below the surge of passions 

That oft time fashions 
The aspect of courageous souls, 
Are still depths of self-resistance, 

Whose pure consistence 
Will not yield to temper 's rolls. 

But amid the hopes and feelings, 

The deep revealings 
Of life 's continuous forces, 
Chance thoughts from out time's commotions - 

Its best emotions — 
Are shifting to new courses. 



CRYSTALLIZED DRIFT. 21 

Shattered hopes and faiths are drifting 

Upon the shifting 
Currents of the soul, that ever, 
Like the tides and gulf-streams wearing, 

Are onward bearing 
Debris of our endeavor. 

Our purest emotions frozen, 

All of our chosen 
Pleasures blighted, aye more, congealed, 
By unfortunate transaction, 

Or life 's inaction, 
On some soul-life glacier field ; 
Every soul-inspiring feeling, 

By life's revealing 
Concentred in some precious gem, 
And by time 's revolvings polished, 

Crude points demolished, 
Brings accretion unto them. 

Life 's storms have ceased; across the soul 

No more earth-tides roll ; 
But lo, from debris drift of love 
And the soul's conceptions wild, 

Grows the human child 
Into perfectness above. 



A SOLILOQUY AND ITS ECHO. 

THE SOLILOQUY. 

As with this planet 's never-ending whirl, 
Aimless and mateless, without any girl, 
I now revolve, how lifeless is the scene ; 
How barren is my life, and yet how green ; 
How fresh, how verdant, expecting pure bliss, 
Uniting my life with some blooming miss. 

THE ECHO. 

A word to the wise is caution enough, 
Better sometimes than the keenest rebuff. 
Kemember, while watching with rapture and bliss 
Awaiting this verdant maiden to kiss, 
Eemember, this Lily so freckled and slim, 
True daughter of Adam, is turned by a whim ; 
And, as mother Eve, made out of a rib 
From old Adam 's side, to God told a fib, 
When God by his word turned them out at the gate 
And placed a flame-sword to guard Eden 's state, 
This daughter of Adam 's, by joining your fates, 
May hang a flame-sword over you, Mr. Gates. 

Land of Nod, during the confusion of tongues. 



A SIMILITUDE. 

On the summit of the highlands 
That divide the east land from the west, 
From a clear and crystal spring 
Flowed a sparkling streamlet forth; 

Glancing in the morning sunlight, 
Glorifying mountain height and sky, 
Dancing, sparkling on its way, 
Flashing o'er rocks and ledges 
Into rich glory-clouds of spray, 
Adding intensity of lustre 
To the beauteous sunlight's sheen 
As it rose to perfect noon ; 

Circling some eddy's course, the while 
Richest shades of rainbow tints, aglow 
With their ever shifting light, 
Wreathed the rarest glories round. 

Anon some shadow falls upon 
Its breast, as silent it meanders 
Slow along some woodland vale ; 
And yet among the shadows 



24 A SIMILITUDE. 

The neckings of the sunlight drop 
Down through the tangle of the branches, 
Studding it with crystal gems 
That gleam like stars at midnight. 

Then poised upon the giddy verge, 

The sharp, o'er-hanging craggy edges 

Of wild careening ledges, 

Swelling mountain breezes break 

Its current to a thousand shreds, 

Which through sunlight and shadows falling 

To the foaming depths below, 

Gain once more their unity 

Of volume; then silent and fleet 

Glides onward through ever-changing scenes 

Of forest, field and woodland, 

To its river home below. 

Its river home ! Ever onward 
Flowing, embracing other waters 
Flowing in a common course ; 
Gladdened perchance by streamlets 
Whose whole volume are but crystals 
Condensed from vapors that have risen 
From their united waters 
To make rivers by and by. 



A SIMILITUDE. 25 

Onward to the mighty ocean 
Where all the waters shall sometime meet, 
And blend in one perfect whole, 
Blessing, beautifying earth. 

So on summit of the faith-land 

Where life joins the present with the past, 

From two perfecting earth lives 

Came a maiden soul to birth. 

Joyous in the dawning new life, 
Beautifying all within her ken, 
Playing, laughing all the day, 
Brimming o'er with soul -born mirth 
Into such lucent gleams of wit 
They serve to tenser draw the love cords 
Which were woven round her soul, 
As she rose to fuller life ; 

Gathering thoughts from sources rich 
In rare bright crystal gems of wisdom, 
Which with ever shifting light 
Spans the whole expanse of life. 

And though sometimes shadows gather 
In silence o'er and veil the love lights 

3 



26 A SIMILITUDE. 

Which round her still are shining, 
Till Faith and Hope withdrawing 

Pass beyond the dim penumbra 
Into darker, more complete eclipse, 
E'en there the glowing love-lights 
Have pierced, and smiles are glancing, 

Clearer than the diamond 's lustre, 
Dispelling her soul-life 's dark eclipse : 
Fairer, purer love 's glories 
Because of sorrow's sadness; 

Lingering on the dizzy verge 
Of life 's entrancing pleasure mazes, 
Charmed by the sensuous gazes 
Of the gay, admiring throng, 

Life's purpose thwarted for awhile 
By inward promptings of ambition, 
Illusive, as bubbles are, 
Breaking like them — nought but air. 

Breaking, but down in depths of soul 
Are all life 's volume, its completeness 
Of purpose, its truth, its faith 
In a true and perfect love. 



A SIMILITUDE. 27 

A perfect love ! Love which ever 
Constant, unselfish, can enfold her 
Into oneness, perfectness, 
Completeness of earth life \s bliss. 

Yes, she has found it, my darling, 
My beauty, my precious, and my wife. 
Rejoicing in completeness 
Of the bliss which thrills her soul, 

Like the mocking-bird she's singing 
Gladsome snatches of triumphant song, 
And with the husband of her love 
Is ever looking onward 

Adown the ebbing tide of time, 
To where in faith-illumined distance 
Sweet hopes which bloom from love yield 
Harvest through eternity. 



Taunton, September, 1879. 



FADING HOPES. 

We oft have seen life 's dearest hopes decay, 
And morn's most radiant promise fade away; 
Have, from some Beulah, strained our waiting eyes 
In watching for a light that did not rise ; 
Oft been thrilled with joy by some transient breeze 
That bore our treasures to treacherous seas. 

O may the life experience we gain, 
The promptings of joy, the lessons of pain, 
Teach us that sunless hours of life are given 
To pave the way and fit the soul for heaven. 

With joy we then may sing, and say — 
Soon will the morning break the day, 
The thirsting soul be borne with love, 

Beyond the wilds and mists below, 
Into the life that reigns above, 

Where lights of love forever glow. 

Petersham, May 14, 18G5. 



JOSEPHINE. 

Waiting this side life 's river, 
Before I cross the tide, 
That rolls so dark and wide 
Between the now and ever, 
To whose realm thou'st entrance made y 

I fancy glories seen 
By thee in that far region laid, 

To which soul-life is tending, 
Earth life's perfect ending, 
For thee, ray Josephine. 

And I remember waiting, 

Watching to see thee cross, 
Unconscious of my loss 
Thence coming, and there dating 
Thy entrance into the light 

That lights life 's harvest scene 
With radiance so clear and bright, 
The possible life that migbt 
Be mine in thy dear sight 
In heaven, my Josephine. 



30 JOSEPHINE. 

Our beautiful children four 
Are each a radiant gem, 
And in love 's diadem 
They shall shine forevermore, 
Enjoying that excelsior 

Which, with aspiring mien 
We gazed upon, were living for, 

With faith sometime to gain; nor 
Shall life's hopes all fail, or 
Life 's loves, my Josephine. 

For rays of light are streaming 
From that far home of light, 
Athwart the darksome night 
That to our eyes had truly 
Concealed our life 's eternity, 
With subtleness to screen 
Those visions that, all perfectly 

Gleaming with crystal beauty 
Of light and shade, might be 
Our own, my Josephine. 

And I sometimes now behold 
Through golden memories, 
That at my bidding rise, 

Enchantments of thy love of old, 



JOSEPHINE. 31 

Am startled by the vividness 

Of light that shows between 

The jars of life to me the bliss 

Of thy moral loveliness, 

Lighting my way in this 

Dim world, my Josephine. 

And audible sweet voices, 

Like some far onward flown, 
From out life 's yet unknown 
Are saying, ' ' Bear thy crosses ; 
But light are little ones like thine, 

If confiding you lean 
Upon the Saviour, make him thine, 
Ever trusting love divine 
Shall lead to where now shine 
Children and Josephine." 

Worcester, January 1,1879, 



RHYTHMICAL RHOMBUS. 

We 

Should be 

Joyously 

Eternity- 

Ward bound, and glory 

Ever radiant, may see, 

From athwart life's crystal sea 

Diffusing from Infinity. 

Then why accept the finite view, 

Reflections only, in lieu 

Of those glories that through 

Faith, simple and true, 

Can souls imbue 

And endue 

With new 

True 



RHYTHMICAL RHOMBUS. 33 



Thought, 

Inwrought 

For them, brought 

From without, bought 

By life' s toil, or caught 

From its visions, where nought 

But perfect ones deserve aught 

But final failure and default, 

With fragrance which the blessed air, 

That moves amid life's trees, where 

Bloom eternity's fair 

Flowers, wafts to them there, 

Onward to bear 

Them to where 

All are 

Fair. 



Si RHYTHMICAL RHOMBUS. 



Bliss 

Like this 

Some souls miss, 

Because the kiss 

Sprites of loveliness 

On them bestow, they guess 

Will yield more of blessedness 

Nor see the yawning dark 

To which wild passions force the soul, 

Whose heats of fierce desire roll 

Right on to where the whole 

Cycled years unroll, 

Dealing dark dole 

To their soul, 

As sole 

Goal. 



RHYTHMICAL RHOMBUS. 35 



Know, 

Although 

There may flow, 

From sources low, 

Streams of water so 

Transparent as they go, 

Shadows look like gems below 

Their tide's transparency, and so 

Mistake a shadow for some gem, 

Lost from royal diadem, 

So love's Jerusalem 

Of bliss is to tbem 

Who let the wem 

Of love' s gem 

Condemn 

Them. 

Worcester, March, 1879. 



MUSIC'S POWER. 

'T is not in the swell of the organ 's tone 
That the power of music dwells alone ; 
'T is not from the thrill of the bugle 's blast 
That comes the music which thrills to last; 
For the heart will throb with a deeper thrill 
At the hearty word that speaks good will ; 

For friendship has surely power to charm 
From the tongue its venomed shaft of harm ; 
But sweeter still is the low loved tone 
Coming from our true love's lips, "my own,' 
When thrilled with joy by the spoken word 
Of the love long felt but never heard. 

There is music, too, when the winds arise 
And chase the clouds o'er darkening skies, 
Beating the waves to a surging foam 
O'er sunken rocks and the seabird 's home; 
Or where balmier breezes gently sigh, 
Softly, sweetly, as though born to die; 
Swelling their tones like teolian strains, 
Or water drop patters when it rains ; 



MUSIC'S POWER. 37 

In the gleeful sound of the babbling brook ; 
In the insect song from every nook ; 
For every sound that nature has given 
In some way reminds the soul of heaven. 

But yet though the chords that strike the ear 
Are sweet, as God has ordained them here, 
Far sweeter are the anthems that rise 
From true hearts silently to the skies ; 
The true soul harmony with God and man 
Yields bliss far sweeter than Nature can. 

But music that comes with most of power 
To charm the soul in a weary hour, 
The fullness of all that mortal can know 
Of harmony here in this world below, 
Is felt by the soul that is scarred with sin, 
Denied without, corrupted within, 

When led by the power of a better life 
To end at once contention and strife, 
And borne by love to the gate of heaven, 
Through faith in our God the power is given 
Sweetly to sing hallelujah strains 
To Him Who liveth and ever reigns. 

Port Hudson, June 25, 1863. 



WHAT HAS CHRIST DONE FOR THEE? 

What has Christ vouchsafed to thee 
Of life's experience — sweet 
With thrills of bliss — replete 
With promise for eternity, 
In eighteen hundred seventy-eight? 

Have any lovelit rays, 
Through some slight opening of the gate 
That leads to perfect light, 
Shown clearer to thy sight 
The mysteries of life's ways ? 

What vouchsafed to me ? why this — 
Wide open swung the door 
Unto life 's evermore, 
Where sparkling gems of purest bliss 
And perfect joy beyond compare 

Were radiant with life; 
While through the open portal, there 
Came bands of angels fair, 
Unto that bliss to bear 
My dearest love — my wife. 



WHAT HAS CHRIST DONE FOR THEE? 39 

Methought to gain some glimpses 
Through the open portal 
To that life immortal, 
Kenewing blessed memories 
Of crystal friendships — hearts once mine. 

But the glories shining 
In that far realm of light divine, 
Served only to define 
Ineffable design 
Of bliss — God's designing. 

The while time 's chilling breezes, 
Upon my life 's index 
Waft continual reflex 
Waves of light and sound, that please 
The sensuous feelings of my soul, 

Distilling mists between 
It and that perfect blissful whole 
Of light and faith, that roll 
Forever from life 's goal 
To make our lives serene. 

Once again the portal opes, 

And clear sweet melodies, 

Life 's purest memories 
Recalling, tell me that sweet hopes 



40 WHAT HAS CHRIST DONE FOR THEE? 

Which budded in the years of old, 

Bear fruit in that other 
Life, that many a heart gem holds 
Of mine ; where now, behold ! 
' The angels to Christ 's fold 
Are bearing my mother. 

Well, some leaves the autumn frost 
Must have to glory them • 
Into perfected gems, 
Or life 's best possible is lost — 
But glory tinted leaves of flowers 

Are beautiful when born. 
Some souls are crowned in blossom hours ; 
Some, with high tensioned powers, 
Through autumn's ripening hours, 
Await life's crowning morn. 

Worcester, January, 1S79. 



TINTINNABULATIONS. 

We ofttimes, stepping mid life 's wild and misty maze, 
May tread in paths that lead us through enchanted 
ways, 

Mid pleasure's whirl, while joys complete, almost 

divine, 
Break forth at each advance on some divergent line; 

Intoxicated by the joys we sip each day, 
Never for an hour do our eager footsteps stay, 

Nor realize the risk we take in rushing through 
Tangled by-paths of life, mid pleasures ever new; 

Dazzled by glitters and glares of alluring joy, 
We heed not poisons that all bliss may destroy, 

Nor any of the dangers infesting our path, 
Awaiting the fullness of the cup of wrath ; 

We wot not the what may come at the end of time, 
We wist not what may be to obliterate crime, 

But presume we shall gain an extension of life, 
In which to sharpen well life 's self-adjusting knife. 
4 



42 TINTINNABULATIONS. 

One path there is that leads straight on to heaven 

and God, 
Wherein we all shall sometime wish we here had trod: 

A path, though set with duties stern, yet followed on, 
Shall lead right up unto the throne of Christ, God's 
son. 

Then why should we with wandering footsteps longer 

roam 
Far from the royal way that leads to heaven our home ? 

And why should mortal men eternity-ward bound 
Trust to tintinnabulations of earthly sound, 

And leave the pure and perfect way that leads to bliss 
For those delusive joys that are in ways like this ? 

Though every path we on this pleasant earth can 

tread 
Leads onward to the unknown regions of the dead, 

Although we all sometime must leave earth 's pleasant 

skies, 
Yet some may go to be in perfect paradise, 

While others, mid oblivion, sink into despair, 
To be — we know not what a kind of being there. 

Petersham, 1855. 



THE FRIENDLY INN. 

A goodly man whose name was Grout 
Once kept the Friendly Inn ; 

He Alcohol invited out 
And all the hungry in. 

By prayer and words, and practice too, 

He fought intemperance, 
Believed tobacco bad to chew 

For health 's continuance. 

He had a feline pet whose fur 
Was white sometime agone, 

But had by some mishap to her 
Become a dirty fawn. 

He had a maid who fed the cat 
Sometimes with cheese or milk, 

Attended all who wore a hat, 
But far preferred " the silk." 



44 THE FRIENDLY INN. 

The silk, aha, the silk, oh yes, 
He looks, the maid she smiles — 

My friends, I did not say they kissed, 
But theirs were loving wiles. 

One day the landlord said that we 
Might help to stem the tide 

Of fierce intemperance we see, 
Perhaps might turn aside 

Its gathered forces from their course, 
If we had faith in prayer, 

And with this faith used moral force 
On those who drunkards are ; 

And as Cromwell, with powder dry, 
Prayed fiercely to the Lord, 

So we sometimes the law might try — 
Let love and law accord. 

The silk he laughed outright at this, 
And said 'twas funny how 

A man of sense should even guess 
(Just then the cat said " meow ! ") 



THE FRIENDLY INN. 

(Shut up, you dirty, squalling cat), 
That prayer should ever — (meow !) 

(Why can't you stop that praying cat), 
Check rum drinking, or how 

Moral suasion ever could — scat ! 

Keep men from selling — ( meow /) 
(Get out, you d old blasted cat! ) 

What gives them money now. 

You preach and pray and prose scat I 

To all eterni (meow !) 

And like this blasted squalling cat 

They '11 harder drink than now. 

I asked him once why Worcester kept 

Fire engines at such cost; 
"Not keep! you fool ! why then expect 

All values to be lost." 

I told him were it not for prayer 

And efforts for the right, 
All virtue would dispel in air, 

Like buildings burnt at night. 



46 THE FRIENDLY INN. 

'T was thus this self-conceited man, 

Who wore a silken hat, 
Condemned all efforts made for man, 

But used them on a cat. 

To him all prayers for right were void, 

For him no effort pat, 
Excepting always those employed 

To scare a squalling cat. 



Worcester, February, 1879. 



IN MEMORY OF A SISTER. 

Where the hills are steep and the rocks are worn, 
And the forests look wild and tempest torn; 

Where winter is long and the cold so keen 
It bridges the streams with a silver sheen, 

And throws o'er all with a liberal hand 
A mantle of white at winter 's command; 

Where the wind sweeps free from Atlantic's shore, 
Or bursts in fury from its Arctic store, 

To thee my well loved home, the Old Bay State, 
My mind will often turn and sigh and wait, 

Then wander away to a sacred ground 
In a sunny vale, with woods around, 

Where the form is laid of a sister dear; 
And I think of her life, her death, the bier, 

Of the funeral pall, the last sad gaze, 
And all that dark and weary tearful maze 



48 W MEMORY OF A SISTER. 

Of sad events, unrealized by thought, 

That of ttimes bring all earthly hopes to naught ; 

vAnd I think of ray youth, and know she strove 
To guide me aright by a sister 's love, 

And feel that I reap in my manhood 's prime 
From seed that she sowed in my boyhood time. 

I know that she toiled beyond her power 
Lest my feet should slide in the trial hour; 

And a wave of regret will often roll 
Across the inmost recess of my soul, 

When I think that the efforts made for me 
May have hastened her to eternity. 

And I think of the years — long years of pain, 
When hope painted visions of health again : 

Vain visions, vanishing like mists that play 
So fairy-like round us at break of day. 

But we know, as here are dispersed at light 
The mists that gather about us at night, 



IN MEMORY OF A SISTER. 49 1 

So hopes that vanish from our life-path here 
Are earth-clouds hiding the light that is near; 

Yet we look through the mist with hope and fear 
To the time that we know is drawing near, 

When the toils and duties of life are done, 
The clouds are dispelled and the day begun. 

But firm was her faith and her hope was bright; 
She knew she was bound for a land of light, 

And her "hope of heaven had perfect sway 
While her earthly hopes were passing away." 

And looking to where her mortal remains 
Are resting in peace from trials and pains, 

I pray that her mantle of faith may rest 
On her brothers' heads as a last bequest. 



Brashear, La., May 10, 18(33. 



"THERE SHALL BE LIGHT." 

As brightest tints of the rainbow fade 
When the clouds have passed away, 

So the purest joys of earth may fail 
At close of its darkest day. 

But oh, as the sky serenely bright 
When the wars of nature cease, 

Gently may flow the current of life 
To the blest home-port of peace. 

Where the half-way chords this earth has given 

To gladden the weary one, 
Shall waken its choir to richer strains 

Of life and victory won. 

Where the ransomed soul may feel the joy 

It wandered on earth to find, 
And the mystic word of love may serve 

To enfold with light the mind. 

Petersham, July, 1860. 



TO MY BROTHER. 

At the light and dawn of morning, 
When the birds in gladness sing; 

At the gloomy hour of evening, 
'Neath the shadow of her wing; 

In the darkest paths I follow — 
In the darkest of them all ; 

Mid the night of earthly sorrow, 
And where'er life 's shadows fall; 

In the years to come of pleasure — 
Pleasure changing like the wind, 

To the thought that I'm forsaken, 
Fleeting quickly o'er the mind; 

When life 's harvest time is pleasant, 
And success attends my way; 

When the shades of life are changing 
To the light of cheerful day — 



52 TO MY BROTHER. 

I will surely then remember, 
And may you remember too, 

.Those bright days we spent together 
When the dream of life was new: 

Happy days, so quickly passing, 
When we thought each pain the last; 

Are those days now gone forever — 
Are they numbered with the past ? 

Shall we dwell no more together ? 

Not again together roam 
O'er those fields and scenes endearing, 

That in youth we called our home ? 

Must our paths diverge forever — 
Shall they never meet again ? 

May they not, though here diverging, 
Meet beyond the bounds of pain ? 

Though we here are parted ever, 
As regards our dwelling-place, 

Still our thoughts may be together, 
Answering here as face to face. 



TO MY BROTHER. 

May through life the recollection 

Be imprinted on our hearts, 
That man's end is here depending 

On the manner that he starts. 

Should it be that death should warn me 
I must leave this feeble clay — 

Oo to dwell in heaven before thee, 
And there join the swelling lay — 

From that land I '11 oft be calling, 

If permitted, to you here, 
That while here on earth you 're staying, 

You may think of heaven as near. 

If perchance you reach before me, 

Enter first eternity, 
In departing leave behind you 

A remembrancer for me. 

Then when thou art gone forever, 
Freed at last from care and pain, 

In the land where friendships strengthen, 
I shall pray we meet again. 



54 TO MY BROTHER. 

May we both, ere time has ended, 
Gain a passport o'er the tomb 

To the land of the hereafter, 
Where eternal truth shall bloom ; 

Be among the happy number 
Who shall safely reach the shore 

Of the land of bliss unending, 
Where sad partings all are o'er. 



SEA LOVE. 

The deep blue sea, like a beautiful belle, 
Coquets with her lovers gay, 

Then smiling, she shakes the shining curls 
That float on her bosom free. 

While arch-like curves of her shining head, 
The swells of her heaving breast, 

And tints that glow as the blushes do 
On a maiden 's cheek at play, 

Would woo to win and love forever 
This gay and beautiful belle ; 

To steal one kiss from her parted lips, 
Then sigh for a kiss again. 

Yet, as a kiss in her smiling mood 

Is too sweet by far to stay, 
She changes her smile to scornful wrath 

And haughtily tosses past. 



56 SEA LOVE. 

Though true be the love to her you pledge, 
Your life to use as she will, 

And bright the glances you cast on her, 
As bright as the sun above ; 

As the golden gems of sunlight rays, 

Disdainfully handed back, 
Are sometimes lost mid the surging foam 

By the wild winds fiercely tossed, 

Thus may this gay and beautiful belle, 
Eeflecting your glances true, 

Yet bury them all beneath the surge, 
Wherever her fancy may. 

Gulf of Mexico, on board Army transport, January, 1863. 



OUR YOUTHFUL HOME. 

TO L. P. G. 

On the wings of fancy I love to roam, 

O'er the scenes of my childhood 's happy home, 

And list to the song of that numerous train 
Flitting, like shadows of thought, o'er the brain; 

Once again to roam o'er that sunny plain, 
Mid the waving fields of golden-hued grain, 

Or range o'er the meadow, so bright and fair, 
And list to the sounds blown back on the air ; 

To catch the fragrance from dewy flowers 
That comes so sweet from those leafy bowers ; 

To list to the hum of the wild bee 's wing 
As it courses around the magic ring, 

And laden with sweets from the now'ret's cell 
It hies to its home in the silent dell : 
5 



58 OUR YOUTHFUL HOME. 

To wander afar mid the forest shade, 

And sit beneath bowers that nature has made ; 

To gaze awhile at the beautiful deer 

As they bound away from the sounds they hear ; 

To list to the screech of the wild wood owl, 

To the panther 's scream and the fierce wolf's howl; 

Or sit for a time by the forest stream, 

There, lulled by its sounds, of the past to dream. 

To dream of the time ere our hearts were wrung, 
Before the darksome scenes of life were flung 

So thick across our pathway, glad and bright, 
To hide the brighter scenes of life from sight ; 

Of the time when our hearts were as light and free 
As the squirrel bounding from tree to tree,- 

When the scene was new and the world seemed^bright, 
Like the splendid sun just rising to sight. 

But those scenes are past — they have long since fled; 
They dwell far back with the silent dead. 



OUR YOUTHFUL HOME. 59 

No more may we roam through that pleasant wood, 
Nor stand where in youth we so proudly stood ; 

No more our way through life's strange maze may wend 
With him in bygone days we knew as friend ; 

No more may feel youth 's kindling pulse beat high, 
While dreaming bliss to be forever nigh; 

Nor yet again may hope as gaily bound 

To search for joy life 's undiscovered ground. 

But still, though we roam through every clime, 
We ne'er can forget that happy time, 

But its scenes will act with magic power 
As a balm for every restless hour. 

Petersham, April, 1857. 



TO MY MOTHER. 

.Full many a year has past, some sixty-three, 

Since first your bark was launched on life 's rough sea; 

It many a storm has weathered in its way; 

Seen mists becloud at last life's sunniest day; 

Has sailed o'er many a league through life 's dark maze, 
Its midnight storms and joy enchanted ways ; 
Ever shunned, as yet, the final shoals of life ; 
And ever rode out safe its stormiest strife. 

Oh, may there yet be many a day for you, 
Before your life 's eternity shall rise to view. 
May your bark through life be glidiDg safely on, 
Till death 's dark shades are past and heaven is won. 

The lamp of faith be burning to cheer your soul, 
While your way you're winging onward to the goal; 
Then when the end of life shall be in sight, 
You '11 be directed heavenward by its light. 

Petersham, February, 1858. 



TO MATTIE. 

The earliest glimpses of existence 

Memory recollects, 
Are but separate eliminations 

A mother's love connects. 

In childhood, boyhood, manhood's dawning time., 

A matchless sister 's love 
Resplendent shone, striving by faith 's story 

To lead my thoughts above. 

Distinct midst memories of my childhood 

Bright maiden faces are ; 
Recollections of my friendships with them 

Stand preeminent there. 

My boyhood days replete with fancies wild 

Beheld nothing equal 
To the gay and sprightly girlish beauties 

Who were then life 's sequel. 



62 TO MATT1E. 

And all those wild, ecstatic thrills of bliss 

My dawning manhood knew, 
Were but electric waves of maiden love 

Pulsing my heart-strings too. 

My manhood prime with business cares oppressed 

A wife 's true love has known, 
And but the bliss by this vouchsafed, I have 

Ofttimes experienced none. 

The friendship of good women, gifted, rare, 

Endowed with wondrous grace 
And symmetry of soul, true perfection 

Of female form and face — 

The peers of any man in reach and grasp 

Of thought, with power divine 
To pierce the mists which veil the right and wrong 

Of things — has oft been mine. 

But now at this my life 's meridian time, 

I have triumphant won 
A mother 's, sister 's, lover 's, friend 's and wife 's 

All perfect love in one. 



TO MAT TIE. 63 

In whom fair grace and beauty reign supreme, 

Of body and of soul, 
With powers devoted to advance aright 

To life 's all perfect whole. 

Dear one, I would that it were mine to have 

The grace of eloquence, 
And in some fitting phrase make known all of 

My love and confidence. 

My wife, your love for me illumes the way 

That faith's fair visions span, 
And shall make smooth the toilsome Way of life ■ 

For me, if any can. 

On Concord Railroad, N. H., February, 1880. 



THE WEB OF LIFE. 

'Tis sweet to remember, I would not forego 

The charm that the past o'er the present can throw; 

May glimpses we gain of deeds that are done 
Glow as bright in the light of tomorrow 's sun; 

With gleams of enchantment the distance still melt 
All the bliss we expect with what we have felt. 

Yes, enchantingly sweet, when fresh o'er the soul 
The loved scenes of the past successively roll, 

To know, in the present, though mists rise between, 
That One we can trust rules over the scene. 

'T is sweet to remember, may joy that it gives 
Never fail to the soul while consciousness lives, 

But oft as we turn, with a joy-seeking gaze, 
From scenes of the present to infancy 's days, 



THE WEB OF LIFE. 65 

When free from the cares that unyieldingly press 
With an avalanche weight of care and distress, 

May the bliss that then flowed in delectable streams, 
Through the fields where our childhood was weaving 
its dreams, 

The sparkle of gems from that land of delight, 
The home of our fancies, the fullness of light, 

Still shine on our souls, ever rest o'er the way 
That winds to the portals of infinite day. 

Though small be the joys sweet infancy knows, 
To the full swelling tide as life onward flows ; 

Though faint be the incense youth ever has given, 
To what may ascend from the same soul in heaven ; 

Though bright be the shore of that beautiful clay 
That borders the spot where our infancy lay ; 

Though bright to our gaze be the gems on its strand; 
Though filled with fine gold is its zephyr-blown sand; 



bb THE WEB OF LIFE. 

A joy that is purer, more perfect, shall time 
Distill for our use in futurity's clime, 

Where each hreath of delight that drifts o'er its lea 
Is richer with bliss than the past can be. 

Then weave thy illusions, sweet fancy, for aye, 
Thy threads may be broken, but drifting away 

When far in the future we look to the past, 

We shall know their fibres are gathered at last, 

And find that the fancies which infancy spun 
Combined with the acts that manhood has done, 
Refined by the love of the Infinite One, 

Are woven a web of perfect bliss, to be 
•Ours through the golden cycles of Eternity. 

Alexandria, La., May, 1863. 



A DREAM OF LOVE. 

1 have dreamed my love a member 
Of a heavenly, happy baud, 

Lured by some deceptive glimmer, 
From her own dear father-land 

To the wild and restless ocean 
Surging on our rocky shore, 

And across whose tide had never 
One from Aiden sailed before. 

I have dreamed thy love as springing 
From a rich, exhaustless mine, 

Out from which a true affection 
Sends a telegraphic line 

To a heart can feel affection 

Swelling forth as true as thine, 

Such, my love, is the sensation 

Going forth from yours to mine. 



o A DREAM OF LOVE. 

There 's a dark vale far from Aiden, 
Where love blossoms never bloom, 

In the realms of Mount Caucasus, 

There the faithless find their doom. 

There 's a wide road leading outward 
From beneath love 's beacon star 

To those wilds of Mount Caucasus, 
Traveled o'er by passion 's car. 

There 's a strange coast to the northward, 

Circled by the icy zone, 
Where a wild bird of the tropics 

Sometimes makes its summer home ; 

Like this wild bird to the tropics 

For a refuge, would I fly 
To thy bosom, dearest maiden, 

When the storms of life are high. 

Petersham, 1857. 



LIGHT FROM DARKNESS. 

As shines pure light sometimes at night 

To watchful eyes, 
Through breaking rifts of clouds adrift 

Across the skies — 

Myriad rays of suns ablaze 

In ages gone, 
Through cycles lapse, borne here, perhaps, 

To mark the dawn 

•Of perfect day in far away 

Realms of space, 
His works make known whose lights have shone 

All worlds to grace : 

So mid the gloom that shrouds the tomb 

Of loved ones gone, 
We gain, perchance, a moment glance, 

Through faith's dim dawn, 



70 LIGHT FliOM D AUK NESS. 

Of sunrise bright in worlds alight 

With perfect love, 
Where all remains, which G-od ordains 

Should rise above 

The death eclipse our mortal strips 

From off the soul, 
It engages as the ages 

Eternal roll. 

And the silence that broods intense 
At midnight hour, 

That perfect rest of each contest- 
ing native power, 

Lying at rest upon the breast 

Of mother earth, 
Whose magnet force withholds their course 

Until the birth 

Of airs impure, when nature 's cure, 

The lightning from 
Careening crowds of circling clouds 

That rushing come, 



LIGHT FROM DARKNESS. 71 

Yields muttered moans, and then in tones 

As sharp as fate 
Breaks on the air, bringing the fair 

Conditioned state 



Of active strife — concentrate life — 

The daylight's dawn, 
And sounding soon the stroke of noon, 

Then daylight gone. 

So life 's stagnant vapors, pregnant 

With moral death, 
That from our whole expanse of soul 

Give not one breath 

Of life response, unto the once, 

Yes, oft revealed 
Life laden word, our souls have heard, 

Whose harvest yield 

Of purer, sweeter strains than we 

Have ever known 
Distilled by breeze from off life 's seas 

By passion blown, 



.72 LIGHT FROM DARKNESS. 

Shall, as they rise and dim the skies, 

Whose crystal stars 
Of spirit light relieve the night 

That sin afar 

Has spread, distill in flames that will 

Consume all dross, 
While piercing, keen, from heights unseen 

God's potent voice 

Speaks the life eternal which we 

Had lost — a reign 
That tells of peace, and gives release 

To bliss again. 



Kearsakge Mountain Summit, New Hampshire, 12 p. m., July 4,1875. 



A MEMORIAL, 

To memories of thy life, my father, 
Overflowing as it was with endeavor 
To raise mankind to higher planes of life, 
I turn with filial pride and affection. 

Two score years are almost gone, since you went 
To your life with the legions unnumbered, 
That have been passing on since time began 
To where life 's infinite ever remains. 

To one who witnessed and now remembers, 
As do I, your triumphant rejoicing 
Because of your expected entrance 
Into the life eternal, which your faith 
Pictured as affording perennial bliss, 
No regret can come ; rather rejoicing 
That so strong and perfect an earthly friend 
Passed first to the eternity of life : 
There, as one after another of friends 
Might come, to welcome them to its glory. 
6 



47 A MEMORIAL. 

But a little while and we too must take 
Our march to life's eternal camping ground. 
Already thou hast welcomed thy daughter 
Through the gate into the city of God. 

And again, after many years, thy wife, 
Her long and arduous labors ended, 
Like a sheaf of ripened grain in autumn 
Was gathered, and joyfully welcomed home. 

Many a friend of thine or thy children 
Is already over the line with thee. 
Sometimes we have almost sighted its scenes, 
And fair visions, beautiful to behold 
And entwining many friends of the past, 
Seem to floaf. in perspective before us. 

-Glad songs, in the sweet tones we remember 

Of friends parted from in the long ago, 

Are echoed back from heaven 's eternal space, 

Along some phonographic nerve of life. 

And in the silent watches of the night 

They are wafting to our expectant souls 

Sweetest symphonies from our friends in heaven. 



A MEMORIAL. 75 

Faith, with a keener sight than mortal eyes 
Can know, would almost dare to part the veil 
Of sense, and gaze upon its glory scenes ; 
Yea, surely feels upon her brow the airs 
That move amid the glorious trees of life, 
Breathing sweet perfumes from incense that is 
Floating earthward from the censers of heaven; 
And love charmed by the chording of its strains, 
Its perfect scenes, the sweetness of the airs 
Which are drifting through rendings of the veil 
That parts this present from her primal place, 
Is pulsing with life unutterable ; 
While that perfect joy that can only come 
From the union of perfect faith and love 
Is there, supremely reigning over all. 

May the thought of thy life and the triumph 
Of its closing earthly scenes, still keep us 
Trusting faithfully in our father 's God, 
With assurance that beautiful visions 
Which faith has sometimes pictured unto us, 
Together with the glorious harmonies 
And odorous airs which have joyed us here, 
Were life 's veritable realities, 
Reaching us through as yet but partially 



76 A MEMORIAL. 

Developed senses of the spirit life, 
Rather than fleeting shadows of fancy. 

Thanks, thanks, for thy teachings and the actions 
Of thy noble life and triumphant death. 

Better to know the joy of such a faith, 
Triumphantly crossing life's boundary line, 
Though it be but imagination of soul, 
Than to have the stoical apathy 
Of atheistical uncertainty. 

Until we shall meet where all life 's problems 
Are solved by the Infinite One, farewell. 



Worcester, 1880. 



GLEAMS IN DREAMS. 

I have dreamed of thee oft as coming 
From some far-off radiant clime. 

To point for my soul-life wanderings 
The way o'er the mountains of time. 

And oft as I stand delaying 

Some wilderness path to tread, 
Thy voice, like music, doth quicken 

My steps where Jesus hath led. 

But, oh, it is wearisome — very — 
This wilderness way while night, 

With mantle of darkness, is hiding 
Our heart 's true love from our sight. 

Maria ! Maria ! how long 

Shall darkness thus hang o'er my soul? 
A bar to the strains of the heavenly song 
Which angels in dreams waft down from the throng 

That beckons us on to the goal. 



IS GLEAMS IN DREAMS. 

Maria ! the shadows of night 

Fall thick, and darken the gleam 
Through windows of faith, from the realms of light, 
That I gained when death took you on from my sight 

Through the mists that border its stream. 

Maria, be close to me still ; 

Let me feel that your spirit is near; 
That the love which you gave me forever shall fill 
A heart that returned to you love and will 

Ever, forever, be dear. 

I feel as I stand by your tomb 

And glance back over our way, 
And think of the hopes we trusted would bloom, 
That there 's rest for us both beyond the gloom 

Which veils eternity 's day. 

Our love shall last beyond our fears; 

On earth 't was but begun ; 
But fed by faith and watered by tears, 
It broader and deeper grows as it nears 

The land where bliss is won. 

Peteksiiam, March, 1865. 



TO MARY, 

Smiles with intellect combining, 

Beyond denning, 
On Mary 's radiant countenance, 
Coming, going, ever shifting, 

As soul born, drifting 
Tides of sentiment advance. 

Glorious eyes, whose restless shining 

Is undermining 
The hardest hearted masculine; ' 
Flashing rays of diamond light 

From their lustre bright, 
With nonchalance rare and fine. 

Entangled masses of flosses, 

Floating embosses, 
Relieve the look of status quo; 
Aurora-borealis light, 

Wave like, yields at night 
Motions like their ceaseless flow. 



TO MARY. 

Lights that from some land enchanted, 

By edict granted 
Leave to hither waft rare glories 
No houri form has ever shown, 

Tell me thou hast known 
Love 's tumultuous stories. 

Clear tones, like crystals struck at night ; 

Resipiscence quite 
Equal to the words it means, thrilled 
With chords infinitely beyond 

Pure echoed respond. 
From magnificence distilled. 

A soul of love, which crowns all this 

With ecstacy, bliss, 
Whose every thrill outvies all sense, 
And yields auroral tints divine, 

To perfect, combine, 
Every grace with life intense. 

Ah! if the angel Israfil 

Melody distill 
In language finer than may float 



TO MARY. 81 

To us in realms our visions reach, 

Essence pure of speech — 
Perfect harmony of note — 

It would not, could not, make us know 

Half the chords that flow, 
Half the glory lights that shine, 
Or half that perfect grace which from 

Thy pure self has come 
To rejoice this heart of mine. 

All hail ! thou queen of love and grace ! 

Thou the highest place 
Hast won — perfect love of mine. 
I, iu elysian dreams of bliss, 

Realize but this: 
Thou art perfect, fair, divine. 

Worcester, February, 1879 



A SONG 

FOR MABEL AND ALICE, 

Two little squirrels 

Playing funny; 
Two little humming birds 

Hunting honey. 

One little squirrel, 
Playing bo-peep, 

Became quite weary 
And went to sleep. 

One little squirrel 

Sits in a tree 
A wondering where 

His mate can be. 

One bright humming bird 

Put in his bill 
And sipped up sweets from 

A daffodil. 



A SONG. 83 



One gay humming bird 
Flew far away, 

But may come again 
Some other clay. 

Two charming children, 
Both of them girls, 

One has dark tresses, 
And one has curls. 

One little girl 's eyes 

Are diamond bright, 

As black as darkness 
Of deep midnight. 

One dear little girl 
Has dreamy eyes, 

The beautiful blue 
Of far off skies. 

Squirrels, most always, 
Unto their nest, 

When darkness cometb, 
Retire to rest. 



A SONG. 

Sweet little birdies, 

Perched on a bougb, 

Heads among feathers, 
Are swinging now. 

Dear little children 

Saying their prayer, 

Snug among pillows, 
Go to sleep there. 



FAITH, HOPE AND CHARITY. 

At times, by memory 's transient gleam, 
Fancy will peer at days of yore, 

And fed by thought 's exhaustless stream, 
Will live through scenes it passed before. 

It oft will climb o'er years of pain, 

Of sorrow and of strife, 
And dwell mid scenes we ne'er can know 

Till passed beyond this life. 

We yet perchance the truth may learn, 

Such views to man are given, 
That they may better realize 

The scenes beyond, in heaven. 

O, let us guard these buds of time 
That they on earth may flower, 

And be transferred from there to heaven 
To deck a brighter bower. 



FAITH, HOPE AND CHARITY. 

But oft will Hope her aid refuse 
And life look dark and drear — 

All this wide world a charnel-house, 
And time its fitting bier. 

But oh, there is a Faith 

Can span this dreary vale, 
An anchor sure and fast, 

Firm fixed within the Veil. 

There is a Love that comes from God - 
The love that Christians feel, 

It leads us to deny ourselves 
And live for others' weal. 

O, let us join these three in one, 

Faith, Hope and Charity, 
Then we can breast the storms of life 

Until eternity. 

Petersham, May, 1859. 



THE POET'S DREAMS. 

"The poet's dreams ! Ah, who can tell 

What joys sublime may rise 
When the poet's mind shall soar aloft 

To Fancy 's radiant skies; 

Or float in breeze-winged barques of air, 

O'er waveless seas of bliss, 
To where they join that shoreless sea 

That ends the voyage of this. 

His dreams to him may paint the all 

That life to him can be; 
Reveal to him the all that he 

On earth would care to see. 

He dreams in youth, when life is young 

And all her hopes are new ; 
He dreams of honor and renown, 

And thinks their promise true. 



THE POET'S DREAMS. 

Then ever I'll tread the poet's path, 

With a hero 's will to dare, 
And buds of hope shall blossom for me 

While ever I do and bear. 

For over this waveless sea of rest 

There rises a being fair, 
Who seems from the very form she bears 

To come from a purer air; 

I fain would clasp her in my arms, 
And woo her with my breath, 

And breathe into her willing ears 
Of true love unto death. 

And love for her, this maiden fair, 
Shall strengthen me ever to do and dare; 
Victor I'll prove o'er sorrow and care, 
For love of this maid from purer air. 

Petersham, August, 1859. 



PARALLELS. 

From the mines of earth oft precious gems 
Are taken whose worth is veiled from sight, 

But cut and polished by skillful ones 

They glow and sparkle all through with light; 

So many a soul seems rough and dark 

When viewed mid the toils and cares of time, 

That polished on life 's revolving wheel 
Shall yield pure light in the coming time. 

The milky way to unaided eyes 
Reveals continuous bands of light, 

But aids that science has given to us 
Bring many a silver star to sight. 

Each is a sun in its proper sphere, 
Where it sheds its light and yields its heat 

For many a world unseen by us, 
The focus where all their vectors meet. 



90 PARALLELS. 

Eaeh one of each group of stellar worlds 
Is circling an orbit of its own, 

Elliptical, parabolical, 
Hyperbolical, perhaps unknown. 

The square of the time of orbit A 
Bears to the square of the time of B 

Such proportion as radius cubed 
Of A to radius cubed of B. 

So far away gleams of peoples seen, 
Like mingling lights of the milky way, 

Resolve on a nearer view into 

Each personal one with his own way: 

While the paths of some seem circles true, 
Another 's may more eccentric be, 

But the vector lines each course subtends 
Have for their focus eternity. 

That the same proportion should be true, 
Between the squares of their orbits times 

And cubes of their balanced vector lines, 
As in the stars, is a thought sublime. 



PARALLELS. 

If so, we know although some may go 
Far away, as comets do in space, 

From the One who rules their orbits times 
They shall sometime gain a nearer place. 

It is true that water cooling sinks 
When at thirty-two above zero, 

Should it ever colder grow than that 
It will crystallize and float, you know. 

So bright hopes we cherish in our hearts 
Ofttimes sink when chilling breezes blow, 

But may reach the crystal floating point 
Thirty-two degrees above zero. 

It is true, Sir Isaac Newton says, 
That disturbing causes tend to bend 

Celestial orbits from certain curves 
Belonging to vectors they subtend ; 

But sometime, perhaps, they reach a place 
Where these slight disturbing forces cross, 

And then draw them just as surely back 
Again, without material loss. 



92 PARALLELS. 

Just so we see disturbing forces 
Distorting man's moral courses too: 

May not laws in coming time combine 
To adjust and make them once more true? 

The so-called aberration of light 
Is only the change of base we make 

While its rays are speeding from the sun, 
Causing error in bearings we take. 

So the actions often we condemn 
Have reached us at time so far away 

From existing time when they were done, 
Our computations all go astray. 

It is also true, so science says, 
That all material things remain, 

That sometime within the ages lapse, 
They assume their primal form again. 

Why not then presume the human soul 
May, amid the ages onward lapse, 

Far beyond time 's shifting scenes perchance, 
To its God return again, perhaps. 



PARALLELS. 93 

You may know the logarithmic way 

Of adding only to multiply, 
That division is easier done 

By subtraction than by x or y. 

So in this world of compensation, 
As we shall add to our love and care, 

We may multiply our joys in life, 
Glorifying it through deeds we dare. 

And so oft as we shall seek to take 
From the toils or the burdens of life, 

So oft shall our joys divided be 
By some unfailing adjusting knife. 

The beautiful snow is white and pure 
As it comes from its heavenly home, 

But it takes the hue of the filthy streets 
O'er which with the fitful wind it roams. 

But yet some breeze from a warmer clime 

May so permeate it by and by, 
As to bear it in a vapor form 

Unto its beautiful home on high. 



94 PARALLELS. 

So beautiful souls dropped down from heaven 
Come pure and white from their source above, 

But sweets they sip from unlawful lips, 
The pleasures they quickly learn to love, 

Soon dim the lustre of their light; 

But some sweet influence yet may come 
To waft them back in a spirit form 

Unto the home they descended from. 

All solid things on earth obey 

The equal laws of gravity, 
But some degree of heat will serve 
' To bring them to liquidity ; 

When thus each particle is free 

With any other one to blend, 
And all by force of gravity 

To a terrestrial level tend ; 

Now somewhat more of heat apply 

And they shall only vapor be, 
But should the heat become intense 

It takes a form we cannot see : 



PARALLELS. 95 

So all the physical of man 
Draws him like solids to the earth, 

But when temptation 's heats come on 
Then new conditions have a birth; 

The moral form or liquid state, 
Where his affections freely move 

To find some level where to rest 
And mingle with an equal love ; 

But yet a rarer, purer form 

All true humanity may gain, 
When by affliction 's fiercer heats 

Sublimed, mid loss and grief and pain, 

All elements of worth conjoined 
With life 's aroma, pure and free, 

And gifted with a life intense 
They rise to immortality. 



Commenced on the shores of the Columbia River, Washington Territory, 
November, 187". Completed among the mountains of Colorado, March, 1878. 



ACROSTIC. 

Minnie of Taunton, my sister-in-law, 
Accept, if you will, this Christmas gewgaw. 
Read close as you may this little concern 
You its true meaning may never upturn. 

Seek, my sister, in some Christmas story's 
Endless and alliterative glories, 
A solution of this poem 's meaning; 
Really this can be obtained by gleaning 
Such stray symbols as I adjudge are left 
To show this effort has rhythmatic heft. 

Read slowly, each line some clue may release, 
Each hair is a coin in the "Golden Fleece." 
Fortunes are made by the littles we gain ; 
Each line, I know, will make my meaning plain. 

The signs you see are scattered all along, 
Hold every one, and when you solve this song — 
Eighteen signs you have, dozen and a half — 
Never say. Oh! 'tis found, but Otis, laugh. 

Worcester, December, 1879. 



BY-GONES. 

Hopes of the past! O where are ye fled? 
O why will ye go ere the welcome is said ? 
Disappearing from view like lost rays of light 
When whelmed in the vastness and darkness of night. 

Ye have gone with your light, but oh, may it shine 
On other hearts as it shone on mine; 
Revealing to them by what they can see 
A harvest of hopes in eternity. 

Friends of the past ! O why should ye go 

From scenes that ye loved, and friends that ye know 

Have loved and will love while memory lasts, 

For true love of yours in days that are past ? 

But go, for we live through a hope to stand 
With you one day in that better land, 
Where clouds that gather to shade us in this 
Dispel, and unite us in union of bliss. 



»b BY-GOXES. 

Days of the past ! You never may come 
Again to light and beautify my home ; 
For time in its flight has cast you away 
And is dealing now with only to-day. 

Then go, for the life that is beating within 
Bears me far on where ye have never been. 
The clouds at thy closing have broken away, 
And light through their rifts is streaming to-day. 

Scenes of the past! O what can I say 

As I think of you now ! Say, will ye not stay ? 

For the tears of regret unwittingly roll, 

And a sigh wells up from the depths of my souL 

Ah, no ! Ye may not; but leave as ye go 
Some lustrous star to light my way below, 
That I may feel that all life 's glories shine 
With added lustre on account of thine. 

Peteksuam, August 2. 1865. 



A MANSION AWAITS THEE. 

TO M. J. G. 

Yes, darling, there 's a palace fair 
Ready for you, in regions where 

Christ 's love shall ever shine, 
Your loving soul shall never rest 
Beneath the earth 's decaying breast — 

It is a gem divine. 

And when the perfect will of God 
Earth's portion lays beneath the sod, 

Angels, my dear, shall bear 
On wings of light your soul above, 
To bask forever in the love 

Of your Redeemer there ; 

To join the dear ones who have been 
Transplanted to that world where sin 

Can never stain their souls. 
For life that on this earth arose 
Shall ever deepen as it flows 

Where life eternal rolls. 



100 A MANSION AWAITS THEE. 

Then know, the way your life may lead 
Gives just the discipline you need 

To plume your wings for heaven ; 
That from the furnace where may meet 
The fiercest waves of whitest heat 

The purest gold is given. 

For ye and they are jewels, love, 
Perfecting for His crown above ; 

And if ye now lie still, 
Endure until high lustres shine 
In you to deck that crown divine, 

Ye only do His will. 

But if perfection 's process be 
Made any easier for thee, 

To see thy children fair, 
Who, borne by love on wings of light, 
Are set, because of lustre bright, 

Among His jewels there : 

Then rise on faith 's aspiring wings 
Above mere sight and sound of things, 
With love within your heart, 



A MANSION AWAITS THEE. 

And far beyond these vales, faith 's sight 
Shall pierce the glooms that veil life 's light, 
Or they may roll apart, 

Revealing climes of bliss unseen 

By all but those whose souls have been 

Close to their God in prayer, 
And in the far Jerusalem, 
Resplendent, pure, perfected gems, 

May see your children fair, 

San Fkancisco, Cal., October 7, 1S77. 



ELLIE. 

The time of singing birds has come, 

My Ellie dear, 
Wafting to me sweet echoes, from 

Thy spring-time here ; 

And I within the woodland shade, 

Beyond the town, 
Have thought, perchance, and somewhat prayed 

You might look down 

From out your present homeland of 

The ever blest, 
And sing a little song of love, 

To bring me rest. 

I remember well, my darling, 
My eldest one, 

Intellectual triumphs thy spring- 
time efforts won ; 



103 



And how we thought if spring could give 

Such wondrous ways, 
What might we see, should we but live 

Through summer days; 

That they who saw thy autumn would 
A harvest rare 

Behold, of ripened thought and good- 
ness for thee there. 



But oh, we know the fairest flowers 

That bloom on earth 
Transplanted are from out the bowers 

Where they have birth, 

Into a well-kept garden, where 

Some cultured man 
Brings them to perfectness more fair 

Than nature can. 

So thy pure soul, whose flight we mourn 

From native wild, 
Has been to fairer garden borne 

To be God's child: 



104 ELLIE. 

Where we shall hope, permission given, 
Sometime perchance 

To meet thee, mid the bliss of heaven, 
On life 's advance. 



LOVE. 

Love has a power to soothe the weary soul, 
To dry the fount of grief within the heart, 

To chase the mists of memory from the mind, 
And purer life to all its hopes impart. 

Rainbow-like pictured, mid darkness and clouds, 
Though storms of this life fall fast on the soul, 

One ray of its light shall banish them all, 
Revealing the way to a brighter goal. 



A GREETING GLEE. 

Written for a friend, from a rough draft furnished by him. 

Come, friends, and listen while we sing- 
To you our greeting glee ; 

With joy we meet both old and young, 
Whose faces here we see ; 

We sing our songs with joyful hearts, 
For often — people say — 

The charm of song the power imparts 
To drive dull care away. 

Chorus : We 're happy, yes, we 're happy now, 
Happy here to-day, 
For charm of song the power imparts 
To drive dull care away. 

We come from western prairie home 
To greet our friends once more ; 

We hail with joy our native state 
On old Atlantic 's shore: 



106 A GREETING GLEE. 

Like you, whose love we highly prize 

And bear in every tone, 
We feel that some have passed above 

To wait us round the throne. 

Chorus: We 're happy, yes, we 're happy now, 
Happy here to-day, 
For charm of song the power imparts 
To drive dull care away. 

The towering hills o'er which we roamed 

In childhood 's happy days, 
The huge old rocks, the winding brook, 

By wbich in sportive plays 
We rambled forth and gathered flowers 

To deck the mantel o'er, 
Are just as sacred now to us 

As then in days of yore. 

Chorus: We're happy, yes, we're happy now, 
Happy here to-day, 
For charm of song the power imparts 
To drive dull care away. 

The old red school-house on the bill. 
Where we from day to day 



A GREETING GLEE. 107 

Eeceived instruction for our minds, 

To guide us on our way, 
Shows unnristaken marks of age, 

Which we may not deny 
Are proofs to us that time rolls on 

And we are passing by. 

Chorus : We 're happy, yes, we 're happy now, 
Happy here to-day, 
For charm of song the power imparts 
To drive dull care away. 

Then upward let our motto be, 

And love shall still enfold 
Our hearts with truth in silken bands 

Of happiness untold. 
And should we never meet again 

This side the golden shore, 
We hope to meet you all in heaven 

And sing with you once more. 

Chorus: We 're happy, yes, we 're happy now, 
Happy here t^)-day, 
For charm of song the power imparts 
To drive dull care away. 



LIFE. 

Life is a golden thread, 

To each frail mortal given, 

To weave a robe of spotless hue, 
To clothe the soul for heaven. 

Life is a drifting cloud, 

By each rude discord riven; 

Improve each passing breeze aright. 
And it shall float to heaven. 

Life is a pleasure yacht, 

By hope 's soft breezes driven : 
Guided by duty 's dictates right, 

May reach pure bliss in heaven. 

Life is a fading flower, 

The last that bloomed in Eden; 
But faith in Christ will heal the blight, 

Transplanting it to heaven. 



WESTWARD. 

In Willamette's vale, reclining 'neatli trees 
That rise in their pride almost to the skies, 

And basking in glints of sunbeams that come 

Floating down like snow from their glorious home, 
Revealing such bliss to our hearts, they rise 

In full thanksgiving for God 's gift of these. 

Here rich clover-blooms are carpets of bliss, 
And soft sweet breezes from over the sea, 

Are rich in perfumes no art can excel ; 

Here are beauties of scene no tongue can tell, 
Where mother Nature transcends what may be 

Told us in dreams of the gardens of bliss. 

In the near distance are sentinel rows 
Of mountains, stationed to challenge each one 

Seeking admittance to regions beyond, 

Along whose slopes, like a Magian's wand 
(The alembic in which his work is done), 

Are resting fields of everlasting snows. 



110 WESTWARD. 

Thus reclining, enjoying, I adore, 
And wonder what beings here were present 

When first these old time monuments were veiled. 

And who, when they, like all time 's work, have failed, 
Shall then he here to view the veil 's descent, 

To gaze on wonders that ages before 

Old Adam ever trod this mundane sphere, 
Had sprung all perfect from that seething void 

In which the great Cosmos — Eternal God — 

Had kept them, until His commanding nod 
Rolled back its portals and wisely deployed 

Them to stand in silent majesty here. 

Now as gathering mists will at sunset 

Sometimes roll in dark masses o'er the scene. 

So wild longings gather, desires to scan 

All the past and the destiny of man; 
Between what hills and in what valley green 

Adam and Eve forbidden apples ate; 

Where, if love shall reign, all dark pas-ions die, 

Within the broad expanse of space may he 
The region, where this pun' and perfect bliss 



WESTWARD. l: 

Succeeds the conflicts of such times as this ; 

And is the bar this side eternity 
As hard to cross as is bar Columbia. 

Darkness is coming, visions wander in, 
Visions of the billows of the ocean, 

Of coral islands rising here and there, 

Emerging from the waters, castles fair, 
Built by creatures so tiny, their motion 

Is only known by islands they begin. 

Where peoples in process of selection, 
By virtue of "survival of the fittest," 

On islands developed by accretion 

Still live, notwithstanding their condition, 
And that evolution by its latest 

Consigns them to certain extinction. 

There are visions of peoples further on, 
In historic regions, where we are told 

Sweet Eden's garden lay, man ; s natal place, 

Where, voyaging westward still, as all the race 
By mighty tides of empire has been rolled, 

Process of selection goes bravely on. 



112 WESTWARD. 

And there are visions of wild commotion — 

But whether they be visions of future 
Histories, or phantoms, shadows of the past, 
'T were hard to tell, they fade away as fast 

As did Napoleon's guard before old Blucher, 
Silently as vapors from the ocean; 

Yes ! visions of that other sunset shore 
On which the Atlantic 's tempestuous tide 

Restrained for ages empire 's westward way, 

When, like all torrents dammed and held at bay, 
It burst its bonds, and crossing on the tide, 

Established empire on New England 's shore. 

Ah, this is not vision, but glorious fact, 
The darkness is past, our dreams have an end, 

Over mounts and plains of the long divide 

Freedom's flag has crossed to this sunset tide, 
Forever to guard it, its aid extend 

To all of right, keeping Union intact. 

But what shall I say of New England men 

Who seized fair Freedom's tangled, scattered threads, 
And held them firm, until each glorious star 



WESTWARD. 113- 

That lights her flag had shed its light afar, 

Until the fall of crowns from royal heads 
Was just resolved to this, the question — when ? 

O land, where morning 's glorious sunlight 
Breaks first on Columbia's shore, so free, 

Where our liberty's first born Aurora, 

Dressed in vestments all spangled with glory, 
From hilltop and lake, from valley and lea, 

Is lifting the weird like phantoms of night. 

Blessed land, where each wave-beat that 's breaking 

Its billowy surf far up on thy strand, 
Comes laden with the peoples that empires — 
The kingdoms raging with oppression 's fires — 

Have westward driven to this, fair Freedom 's land, 
Where true liberty its home is making. 

Home of the wise, the land where knowledge thrives,. 

Where men are born, but by the furnace heat 
Of growing life 's necessity are driven 
Ofttimes, to seek some other home, where heaven 

Bestows in richer measure gifts that meet 
And fill the longings of their human lives; 



114 WESTWARD. 

How dear to my heart thy oft traversed fields, 
So filled with the hopes and friends that are gone, 

Still rich with rare gifts for those who remain, 

And where in the years that yet intervene 
Ere word shall be passed " now gather this one," 

I trust my vineyard some vintage may yield. 

In the Fouest, back of Portland, Oregon, November, 1877. 



THE TIME IS COMING. 

Ah yes, the time is coming, 

When toil and pain and care 

For us on earth are ended, 

Then we shall meet you there. 

But darkness, storms and tempests. 

That meet us on our way. 
Have nearly hid the landmarks 

That bound eternal day. 



THE TIME IS COMING. 115 

Sometimes we miss the beacon 

That shines through night afar, 

God 's finger pointing heavenward: 
Bethlehem 's glorious star. 

But we will try not wander 

Mid darkness in the strife, 
From Him who leads us upward 

To everlasting life. 

Yes, He will surely gather 

All those who love Him here 

Into His Father's presence, 
And keep them ever there. 

Chattanooga, Tennessee, December, 187". 



LINES ACCOMPANYING A LOCK OF HAIR. 

Should e'er the flame of love grow dim, 
From contact with this world of sin ; 

Should e'er the scene grow sad and dark, 
Nor floweret bright your pathway mark, 

May then this keepsake prove to you, 
The heart of him on whom it grew 
Proved never false to love or you ; 

That when along life 's stormy way, 
Tempted from duty 's path to stray, 

The love he bears for you may gleam, 
A beacon on life 's stormy stream, 

Unto the goal where love shall be 
A never ending certainty. 

PBTEBSHAM, 1857. 



FRIENDSHIP. 

Friendship is a crystal stream 

Flowing from true love 's fount; 

It is the watch-fire 's constant gleam, 
That lights life 's rugged mount. 

It is the true heart 's choicest gem, 
Its life, its light, its seal ; 

It scatters blessings over life, 
And can all troubles heal. 

'T is brighter than all rainbow tints ; 

'T is richer far than gold ; 
Endures beyond most other things ; 

Is sweetest when 'tis old. 

Its worth no numbers can compute, 

'Tis great to us on earth, 
And in the sphere where spirits dwell 
Is all in all of worth. 



118 FRIENDSHIP. 

Then be to thee this friendship 's gage, 
Then woo we e'er this gem, 

That we may pluck ambrosial fruit 
From this congenial stem. 



Petersham, January 3, 1830. 



ELECTRICAL FLASHES. 

Upon the blue empyrean, 

Criterion 
Of night, move electrical 
Waves, revealing the condition 

Of some position 
Otherwise synthetical. 



ELECTRICAL FLASHES. 119 

And by each flash respective, 

We, perceptive, 
Obtain far greater resilience 
To depth of darkness, each brilliant 

With fulfillment 
Of the starlight's crystal brilliance. 

So life's experience parchment pages, 

From far ages 
Of the past have resurrection, 
Showing us how cataclysms 

Give protoplasm 's 
Fittest survivals connection. 

Yet such lights but deepen darkness — * 2JL 

Naked starkness — 
Of the how, by whom, where or when, 
While our crystal faith-light 's Constance 

Gives remonstrance 
Such hyperboles to contemn. 

Long Island Sound, June, 1879. 



PACIFIC SEA SICKNESS. 

" The last shall be first and the first last." 

Zeal loves some earnest toil 's savor: 
Yea, and dares such heat take ever. 

Xiphoid deeds seem most too olden, 
When new ways show working golden. 

Vain now were every yearning good ; 
Useless sweet things sown, new wings should 

Take each hour, revealing good deeds. 
Some earthly-yielding gaseous seeds. 

Rest, toiler, rest, take every yoke; 
Quite evanescent time 's sighs — smoke. 

Pastry yoke even never raise : 
Old despotic cliques searching gaze 



PACIFIC SEA SICKNESS. 121 

Never returning. Going ! gone ! 
Marking glorious shadowed dawn ; 

Leaving gastric centres stinging, 
Keeping graphic captains smiling 

Joyfully, yet testily, ye 
Incessant, trine, endless sea. 

His sailors say your rear region 
Gains serratic convolutions. 

Front toiling glorious, saline. 
Ever raising golden new wine. 

Drifting glimpses such harvest tell, 
Camp Pacific's sowers sow well. 

Bile endeavors surgmatic come — 
Apologies — surrounding gloom. 



Pacific Ocean, November, 1877. 



AN ODE. 

'T were better far I 'd never won 
Thy wealth of love as mine, 

Than have a shade of doubt fall on 
That glorious soul of thine. 

It had been better far to miss 

The wild, ecstatic thrill 
I felt when first you deigned to ki>s 

Me of your own sweet will, 

Than that the chords of love should fail 

To yield a full response. 
Or any shadows fall to veil 

Love glances visioned once. 

But oh ! to one who from the height 

Of e'en a human love, 
Discerns the glorious shining light 

Of God 's all perfect love, 



123 



No doubt shall come, for faith shall rise 
On love-winged prayers for bliss, 

To God, and win us still the prize 
Of human love in this. 



TO R. 

I 'm going away, my darling, 

Far, far away, 
To the yet remembered places 

Of the quiet olden day. 

Then remember me, my darling. 

Far, far away, 
As the chosen one in thousands 

Who will ever say thee aye. 

Forget not, forget not ever 

When far away, 
That true love 's flame is burning bright 

On the altar of to-day ; 



That the ever-guiding hope-star 
♦ Still by the way 

Sheds a radiance o'er the darkness 
That enshrouds the parting day. 

Remember then, remember me, 

Though far away ; 
Still fold love 's image to thy heart, 

Ever yielding to its sway; 

Trusting that a brightening future, 

Not far away, 
Shall with love fulfill the wishes 

Bursting from our hearts to-day. 

Worcester, July 2 



A BORDER TALE, 

Location, Pitcairn, N. Y. 

Within a wild sequestered place, 
Where now is not the slightest trace 
Of that savage Indian race 

Which wanders round so constantly, 
A forester had lost his way, 
For he had traveled far that clay, 
Although 't is true, the gossips say, 

He traveled round continually. 

And there within that place so drear, 
Shaking with cold and want and fear, 
He cried for help so loud and clear 

It echoed very distantly ; 
Yet to his call came but one tone, 
It was the wild wind 's dismal moan, 
Whispering him — alone — alone, 

Echoing very mournfully. 



120 A BORDER TALE. 

And then as night 's pale shades came on 
He laid him down all tired and lone, 
Feeling that life for him was done, 

And in his heart felt dismally; 
Nor long had lain when on the air 
Came sounds from panther, wolf and bear, 
Proceeding forth from out their lair 

With howls that sounded horridly. 

Meanwhile the storm comes rushing by, 
And over all the lightnings fly, 
Tinting the scene with brilliancy, 

O'erwhelming him with agony; 
While deep and loud the thunder's roar 
Aroused his terror more and more, 
Until it seemed to him death 's door 

Would ope and whelm him instantly. 

When from the sky the clouds had fled, 

And stars were shining overhead, 

And with the storm had passed the dread, 

Convulsing him so fearfully, 
Calmly he laid him down, and slept 
Despite the beasts that round him crept, 
While sentry stars their vigils kept 

And o'er his head shone brilliantly. 



A BORDER TALE. 127 

But when the reign of night was broke, 
Refreshed, he from his slumbers woke, 
And taking up his staff and cloak 

He started off right manfully ; 
He had not thus proceeded long 
Before he heard a sharp ding-dong, 
Reverberating clear and strong, 

That made his heart beat joyfully; 

And then as quickly on he hied, 
He in the distance coming spied 
(Nor was the space between them wide, 

And that was lessening rapidly), 
A man, who, as he nearer drew, 
He quickly for a neighbor knew, 
Who had refreshments for him too, 

Of which he ate quite heartily. 

And as rejoicing home he went, 
He thought, when next he had intent 
From home to roam, he 'd know where bent, 
And know it very certainly. 

Petershaji, October, 1856. 



NUMBER FOURTEEN. 



Actors — Charley Maidenhood, and Jennie, his wife. Time.— 10 o'clock 
P. M. Place.— " Nob. 14 and 16." 



"Why did n't you wait for ine. dear Charley, 

When in the hall to-day? 
You did not act so cross, my Charley. 

Before our wedding day. 

"I ivas a fool to marry you, 

You do not try to please ; 
If you will sit and sulk all night. 

I hope that you will freeze. 

11 Pshaw! it's hot enough to roast; 
I '11 have my way for once, 

And you may sit and snore all night, 
You old confounded dunce." 



NUMBER FOURTEEN. 129 

This said, the dear delightful girl 

Disrobed at once for bed, 
But oft as she removed a charm 

She shied it at his head. 

And oh, what sweet, entrancing sounds, 

When there from dress all free, 
Methought, if sound can give such bliss, 

How blissful there to be. 

But hark, those sweet entrancing sounds 

Break on my ear once more ; 
And Charley dear is waked from bliss, 

And also from his snore. 

When, starting up, as husbands may, 
When tried beyond their strength 

By curtain lectures that have spun 
To several miles in length, 

He seized her in his loving arms, 

And then I heard a crash, 
As though the ship, Domestic Bliss, 

Had gone to sudden smash. 



130 NUMBER FOURTEEN. 

But oh, ' t would fail, forever fail 
The sharpest tongue to tell 

Of all the ups and all the downs 
That then and there befell 

Dear Charley and his pretty wife, 
But, 'twixt the sobs and tears, 

When they were both ensconced in bed 
It now to me appears 

That I could hear dear Charley say, 
" Shut up your sniveling head, 

Or, by the rights that husbands have, 
I '11 pitch you out of bed." 

And then it all was still once more, 
Yes, silence was complete, 

And I had thought hymeneal storms, 
Like all things else, are fleet. 

But, hark! those sounds drift in again. 

They both begin to laugh, 
And O, my stars, I cannot tell 

The Btory, no, not half: 



NUMBER FOURTEEN. 

Yet sure it was conjugal love, 
With quite dramatic skill, 

Arrayed in nature's primal dress, 
Which sported there, until — 

Dear reader, bear with me awhile, 

As I the tale unfold : 
" Dear Charley " was no man at all, 

But only — Jennie Gold. 

And there two maids were acting out, 

Just only for the fun, 
What lovers have on earth always — 

Or almost always — done. 

Pequoig, July, 1873. 



VALEDICTORY. 

Spoken at closing exercises of Petersham High School, Ma; 



Fellow scholars : This school is nearly done : 
Forever shall last what we have here begun: 
If with good work are filled our school-life hours. 
It will serve the perfecting of our powers. 

If we have spent the spring-time here for naught, 
And all in vain our teachers for our good have wrought, 
Not they, but we ourselves must bear the blame, 
They cannot win for us an honored name. 

Though they should strive with never-ceasing toil 
To fit us to win, amid life 's turmoil, 
Experience with much of knowledge crowned. 
It will be vain if we do not surround 

Their efforts with a firm and willing heart. 
Resolved in life to play an active part : 
Continuing with enduring zeal 
To turn aright this life 's revolving wheel. 



VALEDICTORY. 133 

To you, our teachers, so faithful and kind, 
Who constant have labored in storing each mind, 
With knowledge that 's useful as guide and stay, 
While the years of our life are passing away, 

We would tender our thanks with grateful hearts 
For the kindness with which you've acted your parts; 
May your paths through life with blossoms be strewn, 
Such only as in brightest of paths have blown. 

May they ever be free from corrupting strife, 
And heaven's rich blessings attend you through life, 
Its scenes ever dressed in love 's richest hue, 
Till the flowers of heaven shall blossom for you. 

May teachers and scholars live long and well, 
Accomplishing much that good for men shall tell ; 
Be always active, obliging and free, 
At all times striving the first in good to be. 

And now as we part, may we part in love, 
That gift sent to man from bright regions above ; 
Be ever through life directed aright, 
Still keep the bright side of its drama in sight. 



134 VALEDICTORY. 

And when the thread of life for us is spun. 
When time has passed and eternity begun. 
May we meet again, an unbroken band, 
On the shores of that brighter and better land. 



IN MEMORY OF JOSEPH M. JACKSON. 



We shall think of thee oft, brotber, 
Mid scenes of our soldier life, 

Of thee and many another 

Who fell in that awful strife. 

But we know thou wert true, brother, 
Till life from thy bosom fled, 

And we think of thee now, brother, 
As such, mid the many dead | 



IN MEMORY OF J. M. JACKSON. 135 

And we know that in heaven where death is unknown, 
In the land where the ransomed shall go, 

Mid pleasures that spring from Immanuel 's throne, 
Thou shalt live all life 's fullness to know. 



We ne'er would recall thee from that happy land, 
To the cares and the turmoils of time. 

But trust that obeying stern duty 's command 
We may ever roam through scenes sublime. 

Then rest thee in peace in the shady wood, 
Where comrade hands have laid thee ; 

Thy memory lives with the pure and good, 
And heaven has well repaid thee. 

J'oet Hudson, La., June 24, 1863. 



A SOLDIER'S THOUGHTS. 



For a half year more, 
If we live, 
Need we hope to dwell in P. 
As of yore : 
Yet our hope burns bright, 
And we give 
Our all that our land be free - 
Freedom 's light. 



Shall we ever stand 
Where we would? 
Traitors swarming round our way- 
Mighty band. 
Shall our country be 
Ever good ? 
Will her laws to all yet say — 
You are free ? 



A SOLDIER'S THOUGHTS. 137 

Yes, thank G-od ! it 's won, 
Dawn begins ; 
Herald of the day at hand : 
Haste it on ! 
Soldiers, strike ! strike hard ! 
Strike to win ! 
Freedom give your native land 
As her guard. 

As we wish the right 
On our side ; 
As we hope to win at last 
Through its might ; 
By our faith in God 
As our guide ; 
By the teachings in the past 
Of His rod; 

By our love for those 
Yet at home ; 
By the what we hope to see 
At its close ; 
By the heart-throes given 
While we roam ; 
By the all we hope to be 
Yet in heaven ; 



A SOLDIER'S THOUGHTS. 

By the still green graves 
Of the slain — 
Martyrs for the rights they claim 
And for slaves ; 
By all of pleasure, 
All of pain, 
While we count our country 's name 
A treasure; 

We will stand and fight, 
Fight ever. 
Then wait ye, ye loving ones ; 
Watch ! for Right 
The vict'ry shall gain 
Forever. 
Watch ! till husbands, brothers, sons, 
Come again. 

Camp of the 53d Regiment, Carrollton, La., February S, IMJ- 



THE HOPES WE CHERISH. 

Tell not to him whose heart is full 
Of bright and joyous thoughts, 

That ever by his springing step 
And glistening of his eye 

Reveal to all, though spoken not, 
His thought — Joy cannot die ; 

Tell not to him your life of pain. 

Of hardship and of wrong, 
That all life 's glories fade away 

If you but reach a hand 
To touch those wondrous flowers that bloom 

Upon life's silver sand; 

Or, like bewitching rainbow tints 
Which children seek to grasp, 

Beveal their beauties farther on ; 
Till weary of the strife, 

Still reaching for deceptive joys, 
Behold ! the end of life. 



140 THE HOPES WE CHERISH. 

But know that upward on the mount 
Where earnest souls may climb, 

Where radiant flowers are blooming, 
And rainbow colors glow 

With diviner' rays of lustre, 

Than doubting souls e'er know, 

There the buds of hope, full opened 
By sunlight and by storm, 

Become the flowers of promise 
And yield the golden grain 

Of love, that in its harvest day 
Brings perfect life again. 

And if we faint not, but faithful 
Press onward up the mount, 

That glorious bow of promise 

Shall span the longed-for goal — 

Where ends life's rugged pathway, at 
God's gateway for the soul. 

Yes, many a heart has wearied 
While toiling up life 's mount, 

Full many a step has faltered 
Before it gained the height, 

And — no, I will not say — has failed 
To triumph through the right: 



THE HOPES WE CHERISH. 141 

And yet they failed to gather up 

The wayside flowers that bloomed, 

Have failed to see the glory tints 
Where purple sunsets glow, 

Or hear the music welling up 

Where babbling brooklets flow ; 

To gather up those little joys 

That time so richly yields, 
The precious gems of heart and mind 

That God has freely given, 
As foretaste here through faith and love 

Of bliss divine in heaven. 

And why ? Because some other one, 

A mother, sister, friend, 
On whom in childhood 's yielding time 

They leaned, and learned from too, 
Believed, perhaps through sorrows deep, 

That earth has nothing true. 

And learned to think when roses bloomed 

In wayside paths for them, 
And fragrance from their dewy leaves 

On every breath was borne, 
That all this loveliness was there 

To hide from them some thorn. 



142 THE HOPES WE CHERISH. 

And when the sunset 's purple hue 

That rested on the clouds 
Had merged into the deeper gloom 

Of the approaching night, 
They could not see that darkness then 

Gave promise of the light. 

And did not know that music made 

By every babbling brook, 
But speaks the joy that Nature feels 

Because the Lord is good ; 
And that He will by acts of love 

At last be understood. 

Then give repining up, my friend, 

Assured that joy will come, 
Though mayhap shining through some cloud 

By lightning flashes riven, 
Illumined by the glorious light 

Of perfect life in heaven. 

Petersham, I8G7. 



TO EMILY. 

I have thought of thee oft as coming 
From some far off happy clime, 

To bring, mid my weary wanderings, 
Some joys of the olden time ; 

Of the time when weakened and wearied 

By toils and turmoils of earth, 
Thy ready voice so often turned me 

To a loving Saviour 's worth. 

And I think while yet I am toiling, 

The hark that bears me away, 
May, in some port of eternity, 

Anchor at no distant day.- 

And I fain would feel you are waiting 

For me on the other side, 
When this bark shall have crossed the channel 

Between us, so dark and wide ; 



144 TO EMILY. 

For a lonesome feeling comes o'er me 
Wbile standing alone to-day, 

And I think of the friends before me, 
Who traveled earth 's weary way, 

And know that alone and unaided 
I never can cross to you, 

But trusting the Saviour's salvation 
May dwell forever with you. 

But still may I ever remember 
That time has duties for me, 

That faithfulness now ensures me joy; 
Enduring eternally. 

Camp Stevens, Groton, November 27, 



NINETEEN. 

Nineteen to-day! Time 's wheel has turned 

Again, and left behind, to show 
The flame of life as yet has burned, 

One mile-stone more on life 's highway. 

And as you turn and backward look 
O'er all the course you 've passed in life, 

Leave not a page of life 's day-book 
Unopened to the light of truth; 

But as you view its pages o'er, 
Select those actions true and right, 

That you may sow and harvest more ; 

Then when life 's winter wave shall sweep 

With chilling force across the soul, 
You may your moorings firmly keep ; 
Nor fail, through One who rules by love, 

At last to safely reach the goal. 



146 NINETEEN. 

And as you pierce with longing eye 
The misty veil that hides from view 

The glories of the summer sky, 

Oh ! may you look to Him with love 

To guide your feet in wisdom \s way, 

And turn your thoughts from things below 

To brighter thoughts of heavenly day, 
Beyond the bound' ry line of time. 

And, as each year receding flies 

To join the unforgotten past ; 
Oh ! may our prayers together rise 

To Him who answers heartfelt prayer ; 

For oh ! there is a God above, 
A God of justice, truth and love, 
And would we know His love divine, 
We must all sinful thoughts resign. 

Petehsham. September, 1857 



SCHOOL PSALM. 



A PAKODY. 



School is real, school is earnest, 

And its end is not its goal, 
Yet no doubt he who most learneth 

Will be most awake in soul. 

Time is long, but school is fleeting, 
And our hearts, though brave and strong, 

Still with problems will be meeting, 
Solving which we must work long. 

Tell me not that unknown numbers 
Nothing are but empty dreams, 

They are more ; to those who slumber 
Such things do not rightly seem. 

We must not from others borrow, 
If ahead we 'd make our way; 

But so study that to-morrow 
Find us further than to-day. 



148 SCHOOL PSALM. 

In the school 's broad field of study. 

In the learning of your task, 
Do not follow any body, 

Try yourself before you ask. 

Leaving pranks in school quiescent, 
Of this school it may be said, 

They improved the living present, 
And in wisdom 's ways were led. 

May the deeds of others teach us, 
We can learn our lessons too, 

In the school can leave behind us 
Marks of pupils ever true : 

Marks by which perhaps another, 
Going through school 's misty maze, 

Seeing emulates that brother, 
Striving thus to merit praise. 

Let us then be up to study, 
Learning well at any rate; 

While life 's sky is bright and ruddy. 
Pass through wisdom 's east,. 

Petersham, April, 1853 



ALPHABETICAL SOLILOQUY. 

Alone, all alone. Aha ! ahoy ! 

Bewildered boy. 
Customs closely creeping come. 
Dare dull duties daily defend, 

Enduring. End 
Forever fashion foils. Far from 

Guile 's gilded gates go 

Honestly. Ho ! 
Inquisitive ? Inspecting 
Jemima, Jerusha, Jane, 

Kathrina, Kane ? 
Leaving life 's lessons lying 

Macronated, myriad meeds 

Neglected, needs 
Of ours oddly odorized. 
Poor perfectly puzzled Provost, 

Quite querulous, 
Rendering ready rough replies. 



150 ALPHABETICAL SOLILOQUY. 

Stratagemical strabismus ; 

Truth tumulus; 
Unfortunate, useless, unknown; 
Vicissitudes various ; vain ; 

Whose ways will wane; 
Xylographic Xenophon. 
Yclad yedrad youthful yankee 

Zemindar. 



Well, this poem has this defense, 
Always with rhythm and good rhyme 

Put thoughts sublime, 
But better still, be sure of sense. 

Wobcester, January, 1879. 



TO H. M. C, 

Thy love comes to me like the sun 's bright light, 
Dropping down through clouds adrift in the sky, 

And always to me life 's visions are bright, 
If blest by thy love, a fount never dry. 

Permitted with thee life 's pathway to tread, 
Thy partner in joy and sharer of pain, 

Onward we '11 go through a flowery mead, 
Ne'er crossed by a cloud or tarnished by stain; 

Each happy possessing the other's love, 
And proving it pure, unmixed with alloy, 

Press on together to the life above, 
Where still we may love with naught to destroy. 



Your love, for the joy it gives to my soul, 
I ever will guard with kindest of care ; 

And oh, may the bliss our love shall unroll 
Remain through our lives, wherever we are. 



152 TO H. M. C. 

May you ne'er regret you gave me your hand, 
But love glow brighter as life wears away ; 

Our hearts being bound by a perfect band, 
May our union merge in unclouded day. 



FAITH IN JESUS. 

Gentle showers distilling 
From the bosom of the sea 

Rise to water nations, 
Descend in equity. 

Golden rays deriving 

Life and beauty from above 
Fall on lands benighted, 

As justice, truth and love. 



FAITH IN JESUS. 153 

Many blessings falling 
O'er our pathway from on high, 

Tend to lead us widely 
From where our duties lie. 

And from these our wanderings 

All our future course to turn, 
He in mercy gives us 

Trials, of the way to learn. 

And should we repining 
Here for these our sorrows go — 

When through faith in Jesus 
We may with joy o'erflow. 

Petersham, May, 1S59. 



TIME. 

Time is a narrow sea 
O'er which we all must sail, 
Till through its farther straits 

We reach eternity. 

There is a bark that 's bound 
Across this stormy sea, 
And at no distant day 

Will reach the heavenly ground. 

Beyond this narrow sea, 
To where lies life 's expanse, 
We know we all must cross 

Whate'er our state may be. 

All other barks will fail 
To cross this narrow sea, 
Uninjured by the reefs 

O'er which they all must sail. 

Petersham, March, 1858. 



REASON VERSUS^ FAITH. 

Oft when musing, sad and lone, 
Behind the curtain time has thrown 

O'er things we here might wish to know — 
From whence they are, to what they grow ; 

Of how this world from nothing sprung, 
When loud through space commandment rung 

That there should be a sphere of bliss, 
Where now there rolls a globe like this ; 

From whence this world creation came, 
By whom created, in whose name ; 

How this person or this spirit, 
By whatever name we know it, 

Has existed, was created, 

If by chance this is transmuted ; 



156 REASON VEBSUS FAITH. 

How they exist without a cause, 
Not obedient to strict laws — 

There floats a mist across the mind 
Like clouds borne onward by the wind. 

We wonder what may be the end 
To which our earthly life may tend, 

Still muse and think, yet restless still, 
Roam on with never tiring will, 

From thoughts of worlds to worlds of thought, 
Till utmost stars their stores have brought 

Unto the mine by fancy sought, 
The ores of which by reason wrought 

Reveal to our astonished mind 

The chains that nature 's forces bind ; 

Or leaving thoughts of worlds afar. 
Wing our way back from sun ami star. 



REASON VERSUS FAITH. 157 

And turn with wondering gaze again 
To things as strange that reign within ; 

There all is dark where we may roam 
Through time, nor light to us may come ; 

The wheel of time may still roll on, 
Battles be fought and victories won, 

The whole unceasing tide of life 
Press onward in its eager strife ; 

But yet what light can all this shed 
Upon the darkened heart or head. 

And though the many loudly plead 
Money is all we here shall need 

To give our hearts a pleasant glow, 
Yet trust it not, or you may know 

What 'tis to have an aching void 
Within your hearts, all hope destroyed, 



158 REASON VERSUS FAITH. 

While you are left to drift around, 
Joyless, on wild, unfruitful ground. 

No ! wealth 's bright and glittering glare 
Is but the light illusions wear. 

When you before its shrine have knelt 
And all its bright enchantments felt, 

Perchance for joy you then may turn 
To where still brighter visions burn ; 

These you may hope to find in fame, 
To gain, withal, an honored name; 

That when a nation 's loud applause 
Shall waft you high as pigmy straws, 

You then may feel a joy as pure 
A.S mortals can on earth endure. 



But oh! when you have gained this height, 
Ihive frit within the strength and might 



REASON VERSUS FAITH. 159 

With which it rules o'er all who bow 
Before its throne for pleasure now, 

O think upon the risk you take 
Of being lost within the wake 

Fame 's plunging bark must ever leave 
When sailing o'er time 's treach'rous reef. 

And then, when knowledge, wealth and fame — 
Your whilom object, end and aim — 

When they have failed to solve for you 
Life 's ever mystic problem true, 

Just take a draught of faith and love, 
And fix your thoughts on One above, 

And you will never try to do 

By other means this problem true. 



Petersham, 1857. 



PARTING. 

Shall we the final farewell say 
When we at school no longer stay ? 
Must we through time forever part 
When from these scenes we shall depart? 
Think ye that they yield anything 
That sorrow to our hearts may bring? 
Forever rather may they be 
A union bond 'twixt thee and me, 
That when in after life we turn, 
If not before, we then may learn 
Those who are open, true and fair, 
Shall in the end the trophies bear : 
That all whose speech is ready found 
To deal out praise to those around, 
When at the time they know within 
The tales they tell have never ben. 
Are not the ones whom we would tell 
What has in life our hearts befell: 
For those alone are friends indeed 
Who prove our friends when most in need. 

PSTBBSHAH, May, ]<■:. 



NICHEWAUG TO NAQUAG. 

Good brothers all, who in Naquag dwell, 

Whose thoughts are bent on war, 
From Nichewaug come these lines to tell 
That ours are there as well. 

We are going down to Dixie 's land 

To wipe out treason's stain; 
We will stand as one, a Union band, 
And strike with heart and hand. 

Our country calls, we are going in, 

For freedom now is ours. 
We will strike with might this monster sin; 
We'll strike, and strike to win. 

For freedom 's banner is trailing low 

Midst southern fire and shell, 
And traitorous coals are still aglow 
In southern hearts we know. 



162 NICHE IF AUG TO NAQUAG. 

Then gird ye, brothers ! rise up and fight, 

And wed fair freedom o'er; 
The stars still shine through the gloomy night 
With clear and steady light. 

The stars may fade from our flag away 

When fades the gloom of night, 
But freedom 's light at the break of day 
Shall guide us on our way. 

The stripes from our flag may fall and rise, 

But fall where traitors lie, 
And o'er their fall in glory rise 
Triumphant to the skies. 

Then let us not to rebels cower, 

Nor bow to such a reign, 
For sturdy blows in our trial hour 
Will shatter rebel power. 

NiciimvAii., September, 1882 



LOST LOVE. 

Ah, love, once mine, now doubly lost, 
Whose gentle breath I thought 

Should waft o'er waveless seas the bark 
Where hope and joy had wrought; 

Whose magic touch I hoped should serve 

To drive all fears away, 
And change the hues of moral night 

To bright and cheerful day ; 

That, basking in its noontide light, 
I could all foes withstand ; 

While battling manfully for truth 
Could keep its high command. 

Ah, vain the thought and vain the wish, 

If not upon this earth 
A love exists so free from pain, 

It is the gaining worth. 



164 LOST LOVE. 

Then has it fled, that siren voice, 

Forever, ever fled, 
Must all its bright and cheering hope 

Be numbered with the dead ? 

If this be so, then farewell hope, 
Let duty 's struggling light 

Illume the darksome side of life, 
Till ends its weary night. 

And then, ah then, eternity, 
What mortal tongue can tell : 

Oh, keep us, Lord, by thy rich grace, 
That death may end life well. 

Petersham, September, 1859, 



'T IS SWEET TO REMEMBER. 

'Tis sweet to well remember 
The hearts of old we knew, 

And all their pure endeavor 
To keep us living true. 

'T is sweet, when life is bearing 
Us outward on its stream, 

To know that we are nearing 
The home land of our dream. 

'Tis sweet, when heart sore, wearied, 

By tangled toils of life, 
To know that we are carried 

Ever upward in the strife. 

'Tis sweet, when toil is ended, 
When twilight's hush is on, 

To pray to Him ascended — 
Jehovah 's perfect Son. 



1C6 'TIS SWEET TO REMEMBER. 

And oh ! it shall be sweet. 

Our life and trouble o'er, 
With all our friends to meet, 

Upon life 's harvest shore. 

Yes ! fullness of sweetness 

(Eternal it shall be) 
Conies through Christ's completeness, 

For us, of victory. 



Poet Hudson, June, 1863. 



THE SOUL OF MAN. 

The soul of man is a tireless thing, 
Wandering afar on restless wing, 

There is no power on earth can stay 
Its progression for a single day. 

Sublimely controlled by emotions 
Sometimes, or by patent notions, 

One moment may walk in wisdom 's way, 
The next amid wilds of folly stray. 

Sometimes, enraptured and wafted high 
On the swelling waves of harmony, 

Sweet music's glorious throng would join; 
Sometimes from gardens of love purloin 

Those wonderful buds of pleasure sweet, 
Beautiful, blooming where lovers meet : 

Or right onward by ambition pressed 
She hastens to regions where unblessed, 



168 THE SOUL OF MAX. 

Triumphant ones of earth are winning 
Transient victory through some sinning, 

Some lapsing from virtues of the way 
Leading to realms of beautiful day. 

We can never crush ambition out; 
It will sometimes turn itself about. 

And, like the glorious moon at night, 
Gain wisdom from borrowed rays of light, 

Accumulating enlightening power, 
Illuminating life 's darkest hour 

With glorious gleams of breaking dawn, 
Presaging its eternal morn. 

Let us then forever endow it 
With all life 's true endeavor to fit 

It, in some glorious haven elysian, 
To gain soul life 's perfect condition. 

Pbtsrbbam, 1850. 



EXCELSIOR OF LOVE. 

Am I such one that I can claim as mine, 

A wealth of love like thine ? 
Ah, no ! I only subject love make known 

For thee upon love 's throne. 

Only at distance far removed may I 

Adore divinity 
Like thine : Is he not more than king whose joy 

Would lead himsto employ 

His talents, powers and pulsing life in one 

All-prayer for her who won 
Love — sought by some with tears — so easily 

Through her divinity ? 

Fair one, if in the realm the fates ordain 

Thee " Sovereign Queen" to reign, 

Some fragment thought of mine shall touch thy soul, 
Remember that the whole 



170 EXCELSIOR OF LOVE. 

Pure song of life, the all it might haw.- been 

Had you but loved me then, 
Was thine, and shed one tear of fond regret 

For love of mine unmet. 

But should some heart 'a diviner chords than mine 

An echo wake in thine. 
So you shall learn the full import, the bliss 

Of love returned, through this; 

Or should thy heart-strings thrill with symphonies 

That all unasked arise, 
Thy throbs of rapture and of ecstacy 

No chording symphony 

Of love from thy adored one gain, response 

All fail as thine did once, 
The purest pulsings of thy love-life gain 

But love 's acutest pain : 

Then, thirstinu, tainting, thro' thy hear' 

Regret will not grow less 
If he who roused this tumult in thy soul 

Win more resplendent goal: 



EXCELSIOR OF LOVE. 171 

Perchance may sound the depths of wild regret, 

Abiding with me yet, 
That all my wealth of love expressed to thee 

Won no return for me. 

But should you win more worthy one to bring 

Into thy heart as king, 
One who can bear thee far aloft — above 

My highest nights of love — 

Engrave upon thy soul divinest hue 

Of love-life tinting true, 
I will at distance far remote endure 

Pain, love from thee might cure. 

And mindful that our Christ once gave us for 

Life 's true excelsior, 
With love to serve both friend and enemy, 

Crowned in eternity, 

Shall strive with humble effort life to live, 

All its quintessence give, 
To one life-long concentrate effort for 

This true excelsior. 



WAITING. 

By the river that forever 

Must onward flow 
From life 's garden to earnest men, 

Amid the glow 

Of dawning hopes that come in troops 

To every one, 
Whose loveliness is mirrored bliss 

Of bliss begun, 

I am waiting — ever waiting 

For something true, 
Divine to do, leading me through 

Into some new 

Development, divinely sent 

To mark the road 
Which onward winds through various kinds 

Of life to God. 

Washington, January, 1878. 



BEAUTY. 

'Tis not mid the rich and splendid scene 
That beauty in all its brightness is seen ; 
'Tis not in the gay and beautiful belle, 
Whom many and more have admired so well ; 
They both are bright, but may my pathway shine 
With beauty 's brighter gems from nature 's mine. 

There's beauty, true beauty, where insects play, 
As they burst into life and the light of day, 
And turn such curves in the golden light 
As the bright moth-king on his wedding night; 
In the gambols of fish through the rippling stream, 
When the bright sun-rays on its surface gleam, 

There 's beauty, too, when the murmuring breeze, 
Rises and sighs through blossoming trees, 
And the snow-white flakes, like stars from heaven, 
Fall thick and fast, from their moorings driven ; 
When the whispering breezes gently sing, 
There are gems of beauty in everything. 



174 



I see them in every glittering ray 

Reflected from flowers that spring by the way : 

In the wave of wing when the tribes of air 

Proclaim by their son- they are happy there; 

In the fleecy fold of the silken spray 

That edges the clouds at the close of day. 



"Tis beautiful, too, when the light of day, 
Like a rainbow, fades from our sight away, 
And the moon looks forth from the clear blue sky, 
A watchman of earth, thus stationed on high; 
While scattered o'er all are the gems of heaven, 
The symbols of truth to mortals given. 



There is beauty, too, in the answering glance, 
When waked from the dreams of «a selfish trance. 
Our eyes may catch a ray from those most dear, 
And all we feel or know of love is near: 
And. oh, there is much on this side Aiden, 
With gems of beauty richly laden. 



But fullness of beanty is only - 

By hearts where sin and sorrow l"nu r have been, 



175 



When the Word of God descends from above 
To open anew with arrows of love, 
And they gain for awhile a glimpse of heaven 
Through the lifted veil of a soul forgiven. 

Petersham, May, 1859. 



WISHES OF LOVE. 

May thy love on earth be ever 
As pure as the driven snow 

That falls on the northern plain, 
Purifying all below; 

Thus cleansing from every stain 
Your life forever. 

May thy love on earth be ever 
As bright as the rainbow span, 

Standing as the sign of God 
Given in love to every man : 

So be your love a sign from God 
To you forever. 



176 WISHES OF LOVE. 

May thy love on earth be ever 

As sweet as the wind-harp ; s tone; 

As sweet as the songs of heaven, 
Sung by angels round the throne 

Of Dim who power has given 
To love forever. 

May thy love on earth be ever 
As clear as the sparkling dew 

That lies on the opening flowers. 
"Vivifying them anew 

In the early morning hours: 
Thus love forever. 

May thy love on earth be ever 
Fresh with each returning hour. 

Ever giving of its store, 
Ever gaining in its power: 

For who gives will have the more 
Returned forever. 

May thy love on earth b< 
As true as the laws of light: 

Each reflecting to the soul 
Of the other what is righl ; 

Making one harmonious whole — 
( Complete forever. 



WISHES OF LOVE. 177 

May thy love thus be forever 

Index of that gem divine 
Given to man in Paradise — 

Queen of God 's gifts, that shine 
Clear as crystal gems of iee, 
Dissolving never. 

Port Hudson, La., Jujje 28, 1863. 



TRUE LOVE VERSUS SELF LOVE. 

When God in wisdom had decreed 
This wondrous world should be, 

He formed the sun to rule the day , 
The moon by night to see. 

But oft the moon 's bewitching glare 
Man 's vision shall deceive, 

While he who trusts the sun 's clear ray 
Shall clearly truth perceive. 



178 TRUE LOVE VERSUS SELF LOVE. 

And thus within the moral world, 

For man 's direction given, 
True love shall ever lead to light, 

Self-love away from heaven. 

'Tis this — self-love — the devil's own, 

That binds four million men, 
And makes them slaves to other — what ? 

To be delivered — when ? 

'T was this — true love — that led John Brown 

To brave great slavery 's might, 
That death to him might bring th' oppressed 
The end of moral night. 

He may have erred — 't is human to — 

But deep within his soul, 
Full love to God, true love to man, 

Was e'er his aim, his goal. 

Men say " he failed, has lost his life, 
Has paid the traitor's doom," 

But look away beyond this life, 
The confines of the tomb, 



TRUE LOVE VERSUS SELF LOVE. 179 

Where sin and rage and lust and pride 
Still wield o'er most their power, 

To that bright world where truth and love 
E'er reign by right — their power. 

Ah ! which shall gain th' approving smile, 

John Brown or Worldly Wise, 
And which shall meet the traitor 's doom ? 

He lives, but living dies. 

Then up at once, ye freedom 's men, 

And still the right maintain, 
There 's yet a battle to be fought, 

A victory yet to gain. 

Be up and for the contest arm, 

In freedom's cause be brave, 
Oppression 's sword must yet lie low 

Within oblivion 's grave. 

Petersham, December, 1S59. 



FUNERAL HYMN. 

Sung at Emily's Funeral. 

A soul has passed through thrills of pain 
To realms of bliss on high. 

Which many years has waited for 
Its transfer to the sky : 

And now 't is come, that longed-for hoar, 

Her last farewell is said. 
And naught is here but earthly clay — 

That part alone is dead. 

Her spirit chants a nobler strain 
Than e'er was heard below: 

O God, accept our heartfelt thanks, 
That we so truly know 

That passing on has won for hei 

A brighter heme above, 
Where free from all the ills of life 

She knows a perfect love* 

Pj i i B8HAH, January 14, 1858 



THE RED, WHITE AND BLUE. 

When Freedom to our land first came 
She spread her banner to the breeze, 

And with a firm, unshaken hand, 

Dared the tyrant 's power to seize. 

'T was then the yeomen of the land, 
Seeing fair freedom 's flag unfurled, 

Thrilled with the thought that freedom thus 
Might yield rich harvest to the world, 

Quick gathered where its standard stood 

And gave their hands, their lives, their all, 

And swore an oath, sealed by their blood, 
That never should that standard fall. 

Ah ! little thought the English lords 

Those banner stars, like stars of heaven, 

Should light a continent 's expanse 
Of union states to freedom given. 



182 THE RED, WHITE AND BLUE. 

Fair freedom, may we feel thy power, 
And, like the brave colonial ones, 

Oppression's wily wrongs withstand, 
Prove hero-fathers' worthy sons. 

Then float the red, the white, the blue, 
Above America's domain: 

Imbue the breezes floating by. 

Until pure principles shall reign 

From northern sea to southern gulf, 

From old Atlantic 's pine tree state, 

O'er mount and vale and fertile plain, 
Unto the Occidental gate : 

Until like incense they arise 

To cleanse the ethics of the world. 

And all earth 's despots by their power 
To dark oblivion are hurled. 

Petersham, L80B. 



HARDSHIPS OF COURTING. 

A PAKODY. 

To all young men who courting go 
I pen these lines, that ye may know 
That highways all are filled with snow 
And drifted terribly. 

When I was in the courting line, 
And wished to make some fair one mine, 
It made no difference, rain or shine, 
I courted steadily. 

So now when I am drawn as juror, 
Though heaven and earth be in a furore, 
I must report at court to-morrow 
I know most certainly. 

But though I strive with all my might 
The Naquag spires rise not in sight 
Till fall the sable shades of night 
And winds screech savagely. 



184 HARDSHIPS OF COURTING. 

Though drifting snow-banks rise to view 
As ghostly spectres sometimes do, 
Pilgrim must bravely struggle through 
Though fagged out thoroughly. 

But lo, at last the journey 's end, 
The town is reached, all ears attend. 
For never yet did Boreas send 
Out sprites so crustily. 

Come then, young men, if you would know 
What haps to those who courting go, 
Just start to court through banks of snow, 
And court persistently. 

Worcester, January - 



MY MOTHER. 

Farewell ! farewell ! to my mother 's dear presence : 
Yet oft with the shadows of evening descending 

Unbidden, the tears of quiet remembrance 
Flow free from the springs of feeling unending. 

Far stronger than hopes which allure my endeavor 
Are the golden links of my mother 's affection; 

And through the long ages hereafter, forever, 
My soul-chords will thrill at thy dear recollection. 

Farewell ! Be it mine, through these lines, to embellish 
Thy life of unnoticed, unselfish devotion, 

In the eyes of all those who, though they may relish 
The harvesting now of your toil and emotion, 

Thought not to divide you its promise of plenty : 
Such acts are remembered, and the quick recurring 

Years, bringing inevitable infirmity, 
May yield requital at harvest then occurring. 



186 .1/} MOTHER. 

Sometimes, while my children at evening are sitting, 

With pictures and playthings at our library table, 
The scenes of my childhood — when you with your 

knitting, 
And sister and brother devouring some fable, 

While I at your elbow persistently keeping, 
Was watching the changes continuous going 

O'er your face, like sunshine and shadow, the weeping, 
Rejoicing, commingled with what you were doing — 

Flow back to my soul with such deep overwhelming 
I go from the dear ones who cluster around me, 

The flood-tide of feeling such action compelling, 
And in silence indulge sweet communion with thee. 

Farewell! May my children, my pilgrimage ended, 
Look back to the years of my pilgrimage with them, 

With as sweet recollection of me; commended, 
Be thought as fit a gem for their love 'a diadem. 

Oh, may sometime, away where cycling ages roll, 

The lines we each pursue become quite parallel; 

And mid fair life 'fl eternal, pure delight, my BOUl, 

As in dear days of old, again with mother dwell. 



CHIPS FOR THE BASKET. 

A PAEODY. 

Bring chips for the basket, ye brave and ye fair ; 
Heed the precaution, select them with care ; 

From the mind 's choicest woods bring them fresh and 

new, 
And a brimming basket we '11 fill for you. 

Small splinters of thought, the rich and the rare — 
Kich not in the wealth of the dress they wear, 

But rich in the intellect sparkling there — 
And a full chip-basket to you we '11 bear. 

The soundest there are in the storehouse found 
Bring here for our use; bring green ones, but sound; 



188 CHIPS FOR THE BASKET. 

They are best by far, for we know they grew 
Expressly to fill this basket for you. 

Bring your splinters all, wherever they grew, 
And a rare chip-basket we '11 fill for you; 

Thus shall it be a collection rare, 

The fragments of mind, from the young and fair. 

Petersham, February. 



2&* 



CROSSING OVER. 



CROSSING OVER. 

Will you tell me, husband, about the life where I am 

going, 
For tides of tears for our precious little children are 

flowing 
So freely down my cheeks, and my heart so overflows 

with pain, 
Thinking they soon will have no mother, I cannot see 

it plain. 
O, my darling, do you think it will be pleasant, living 

there, 
And shall I have the sweet embraces of those four 

children fair 
Who used to love me so, and whose passing onward 

one by one 
So tensely strained my heart-chords, their vibrations 

are almost done ? 
Do you think that I may ever come to soothe you when 

the stream 
Of malicious falsehood at its flood shall roll your way 

again ? 



102 | ROSSING WEB. 

Yes, I am very weary, such thoughts are more than I 

can hear, 
Just turn my head a little, and while you sit and watch 

me there, 
Perchance, in my slumbers dreaming, I may ixain a 

glimpse of heaven ; 
But he sure and wake me, darling, at a quarter past 

eleven, 
Or roaming in my slumbers and coming to the open 

door, 
I may pass into the heavens and so awake on earth no 

more. 
Just read a little, from the hundred thirtieth glorious 

Psalm; 
Perhaps its promise of perfect endless life my soul 

may calm. 
Yes, darling, lam waking, but oh, I wish I might have 

been 
Allowed yet longer time to view those fair visions, that 

within 
The realms just across the river I was Hearing, shone 

so bright, 
With all perfect bintingS and lines of radiant ray- of 

light 



CROSSING OVER. 193 

My darling, methought I heard our children 's voices 

singing; 
That there were four of the glorious angels who were 

winging 
Their way with triumphant song and hallelujahs by 

the shore 
Of that beautiful river, who were surely our children 

four. 

yes, my darling, I am longing to cross the river 's 

tide 
For many friends, our dear ones, are waiting on the 

other side 
To take me by the hand and bid me welcome to all its 

bliss. 

1 would you should not mourn for me ; no, never ; for 

far from this, 
When you are on the river bank I '11 be sure and 

welcome thee 
With glorious hallelujahs to the world eternity. 
Only try and guide our children in all truths of 

Wisdom 's way, 
That over the river I may welcome them into perfect 

day. 
Husband, I am very weary, I can scarcely draw a 

breath : 



194 



CROSSING OVER. 



O say, do you think, can it be, that this possibly \a 

death ? 
There, turn me just a little; thank you, darling; now 

will you clasp — 
But the fluttering utterance ended, with the faintest 

gasp; 
A gasp and then a silence; repeated with silence once 

more, 
Enduring until I knew that she had gained the other 

shore, 
And I caught the faintest echo of this triumphant 

song borne on 
Through gates ajar, down vistas of light her faithful- 
ness had won : 



O, I 'm your baby Mary, 
Who in the long ago, 

Came up to be your little fairy 
Girl in heaven, you know. 



Then ring the bella of heaven 
To cheer my mamma's way 

To meet, the little children given 
To her again to-day. 



CBOSSING OVER. 195 



O, I 'm your darling Malcolm, 
Who rose into the light, 

Eeceiving a glorious welcome 
To my sister bright. 



Then touch the harps of heaven, 
Let perfect chordings rise, 

Unite the loyes that earth has riven, 
'Neath these resplendent skies. 



O, I 'm your Ellie, mother, 
Tour almost man below; 

To join my sister and my brother 
Came I here, you know. 



Then blow the trumps of heaven, 
My mother 's on the road; 

Eejoice, repeat it seven times seven, 
Hosanna to our God. 



196 CB088INQ OVER. 

O, I'm your baby Willie, 
Who only went to earth 

To bring to Mary, Malcolm, Ellie, 
Tribute of thy worth. 



Then sing, ye choirs of heaven, 

Make melody divine 
For this welcome jubilee, here given 

Unto this mother mine. 



Yes, all ye host of heaven, 
Triumphant anthems raise, 

Because this soul of earth is given 
To hymn Immanuel 's praise. 



AN ENIGMA. 



AN ENIGMA. 

A cosy cottage somewhere lay 

By a mountain side and river, 
To which at dawn of April day 

The expected child drew nearer ; 

Who, resting there at noontide hour, 

Asleep on a downy pillow, 
Gave not promise of half the power 

Of a speck adrift on a billow. 

The fleeting years with sun and shade 
Four times have necked the river side, 

And spring and autumn both have laid 
Their hand upon the child beside ; 

Who, lured by flowers and pebbles bright, 

Daily wanders by the river, 
And, on his mother 's arm at night, 

Roams where child-dreams roam forever. 



200 AN ENIGMA. 

But oli ! as worlds will always roll 
Right onward in their orbit 's place, 

So childhood takes the infant soul 
And rolls it with the human race. 



The spring-time year gives growing leaf, 
And clothes in green both mount and plain, 

The chilling shades of night grow brief, 
And seed-time hours come back again. 

Fair vapor visions, somewhat dim, 

At each successive sunrise rise; 
Dispelled above the radiant rim 

Of further forest to the skies. 

The browsing, bleating sheep are out 
Upon the green, grass-growing bill, 

Thf cawing, craven crows about 
The iann-iicMs freely fly at will. 



AN ENIGMA. 20 

The farm boys drop the Indian corn, 
While wiser ones are sowing grain, 

And in the earliest dawn of morn 
Sweet songsters sing upon the plain. 

Soft airs are almost always borne 

O'er ocean onward to the land, 
To take ice gems all winter worn 

And bury them beneath the sand. 

Now sunny seasons seem to glide 

From out the spring-time 's trenchant track, 
And budding beauties bloom beside 

Each path, and bring the summer back; 

And floating films of clouds, adrift 

Somewhat above us in the sky, 
To beautiful borders grant gift 

Of fairy shadows floating by. 

And milkmaid Mary with her pail, 
Comes singing out the dairy door 

At day dawn, and will not fail 
At sunset there to sing once more, 



202 /A ENIGMA. 

Thougb all the summer days r< - 
A 1 1 « I glorious autumn-time has come, 

When going forth at '-ally -lawn 
she sings instead the harvest hom< . 

Now ripening powers of shade and 

And early frost ami pa-siiiLi air. 
For forest foliage have won 
Tinting almost beyond compare. 

Then winter 's wailing winds withdraw 
The singing birds ami merry maid: 

Ami nature, bound by Boreas' law. 
Mournfully mem- o'er hill ami glade, 

Chanting dreary dirges of death; 

Burying beneath its snow shroud 
The cheery copses, whence tin' breath 

Of summer drave many a cloud. 

Thu> many years sua eeding came. 

And thro' their change the child has 
A larger child, hut still the same. 

Despite the change - 



AN ENIGMA. 203 

There yet are only buds and blooms 
Of callow childhood's dreaming days: 

Dissolving mists and passing glooms 
To train the soul for passion plays ; 

But wooing winds from off life's sea 

By rising heats of passion drawn. 
Desires develop that may be 

But early manhood — childhood gone 

Where coming clays are backward borne 

On ever ebbing tides of time; 
And spring perfumes and breezes flown 

To summer's scented beds of thyme. 



A merry maiden 's summer sun 

Is glowing bright with tint and bloom 

Of fairest maiden grace, begun 
To fit the soul and deck the room 



204 jy ENIGMA. 

For coming crowns or chains of love. 

And curious crowds of blithesome boys, 
With her, weird hannts desire to rove, 

Dreaming delusive dreams of joys 

In realms of personal perfect bliss, 

With this fair maid — made reigning queen, 

And for dear destiny like this 
Would boldly barter bliss between. 



A purling stream, a pasture fair, 
A glade of wood, a wall of reck. 

This maiden gathering walnuts there, 
The time — just half-past four o'clock. 

Within the shady wood above 

Our youth-man roamed with dog and g 
' - ■ 1 1 1 « - 1 1 1 as yel with nature 'a | 

Sturdy study and frolic fun. 



AN ENIGMA. 205 

And pigeons came and squirrels went 
And gathered nuts and chattered so, 

And curious cawing crows, intent 
On seeming shadows there below. 

Flew overhead and cawed and hawed, 
And time passed on, and walnuts fell, 

And woodland life was all abroad, 
When coming to its bound — ah ! well, 

The fairy floating vision there 
Dispelled all thought of other game, 

For here was one delightsome dear; 
For her he knew no other name — 

" Excuse me, miss, the woods are thick, 

Else uninvited I 'd not come 
Where you — yes, thanks ; I '11 help you pick, 

Then take this basket to your home." 

The moments flew, and fast they talked, 
And sometimes looked and sometimes smiled, 

But when at dusk they homeward walked, 
Both knew they had out-grown the child. 



.l.\ ENIGMA. 

And often after, roaming, would, 
By forest side or silver brook, 

All accidental — when they could — 
Meet there to talk or con some book. 

And life grew sweeter every hour. 

And fairer visions flecked their dreams, 
And all their souls were swayed by power 

i \i love's fast flowing, tell-tale streams, 

That nearer drawn as time passed on, 
By hillside trend and valley 's veer, 

i me melting March, conjoined in one, 
Became through union still more dear. 



Since, other years have come and gone, 
And time and love have marched apace; 

Each set of sun, each daylight V dawn. 
Brings him more strength, to her more - 

Mid rural scenes of work and play. 

And abstruse studies there pursued, 
They quite a paradise each day 

joyed, with love and truth imbued. 



AN ENIGMA. 



207 



There song and rhythm both, combined 
By lightning flash and thunder roar, 

Brought joy, sublimely intertwined 

With lights and thrills of love they bore. 

And all the world was wagging on, 

And wars were waged or peace was made, 

Defeats sustained or victories won, 
New cities by each junction made. 



But lo, the tides of battle swing, 
Like empire, westward on their way, 

And civil war and discord bring 
Apace a transient parting day. 

Ah ! hearts shall beat and tears shall flow, 
And many loves shall wait in vain 

For fall of feet at door, which no 
More ever shall return again. 



21 |S AN ENIGMA. 

Yet sometimes ships by tempest tossed, 
Near wild, surf-foaming shoals or shore, 

While comrade ships are wrecked and lost, 
Pass all obstructions safely o'er: 

While other craft on placid sea, 

Well manned, with rigging BtroDg and taut, 
All unintentionally, may he 

Within some cyclone's fury caught. 

And founder where all seems most fair. 

This soldier, thus, mid shot and shell, 
And wild mischance, where battles were, 

Escaped, returning safe and well; 

While soon amid the fragrant balm 
And soothing thought of dangers past, 

Just when surroundings all were calm, 
She fell beneath malarial blast 

But ere her spirit passed beyond 
The vale this life and heaven between, 

She Baid, to calm his wild despond, 
"Remember, love, July >i.v. 



AN ENIGMA. 209 

" Of eighteen hundred fifty-seven, 
The time when promise full was given 

That, till the bonds of earth were riven 
And one of us should pass to heaven, 

" My love should be for thee alone. 

And when you called me ' angel one,' 
I told you that perhaps love 's own 

Angel had permission won, 

"And might just then be floating clown 

Some starlit avenue of night, 
Above this very pleasant town, 

On her radiant wings of light. 

" My love, perhaps it might have been 

According to my playful word, 
And in the coming time, you, when 

Life as yet unknown has stirred 

" Your deepest soul, by silver brook, 
Or wandering in some wilderness, 

May meet the angel who then took 
Her flight to earth, enjoy the bliss 



IX ENIGMA. 

"Of bouI communion with her there. 

It so, so do; for, darling, through 
Some influence I Ml bring to bear, 

She shall accord her love to you." 



Her soul passed on, he came and went 
Through varied scenes of joy and pain; 

On worldly wealth sometimes intent: 
Sometimes by silver brook again; 

Sometimes at learning 'a castle gate 
He stood and knocked, or Btrove to find 

Down some weird avenue a state 
Where never roamed a human mind. 



'T is not my thought to heir portray 
Or measure what success he gained, 

And only glimpses of the way 
II-' neutralized defeats sustained: 



AN ENIGMA. 211 

Suffice to say, through many years 

The days were bright, the nights dropped balm. 
His cheeks unwet by flow of tears, 

No passion cyclone broke the calm. 

But wealth and more of knowledge came 
As each succeeding year rolled by, 

And many voices spoke his name" 
In tones of earnest eulogy. 

But never yet was day so long 

But that it touched sometime the night. 
And never eulogistic song 

Was sung but sometime ended quite; 

And never any airs were borne 

From out the tell-tale pleasant west, 

But that they presently were known 
To bear slight clouds upon their breast. 

You know it sometimes hath a way 
Revealed by spire vanes on the church, 

Of shifting at the close of day 
With quite a simultaneous lurch. 



212 AN ENIGMA. 

'T was thus our hero's fortune turned. 
Mid wrathful gales, where hail and rain 

And fog and snow were all concerned. 
And ponds and brooks o'erflowed amain. 

The very stones moved in their beds, 
The bossies on the hills loud brayed, 

The long-eared gentry shook their heads, 
Both big and low, and gibes were made. 

But one short page can never tell 

His dear escapes ; how foxes ran. 
And hair turned white, and frost soon fell 

Throughout the town: a new man can. 

How reputations fair and green 
At once turned very brown ami gray. 

While some stray tints of blue were 
Quite ebon black at close of day; 

How, howl and hoot were mudge-Q a-fong 
Nights all illumed with jasper light, 

While */-e^-t'<>.)t /<></•/ took up the * 
And craiked and croaked with wondrous might 



AN ENIGMA. 213 

Of what good speed some fellows made; 

How some young men there sought a lord ; 
And many a chase proved fruitless raid, 

Like old Grimes' miss-comings to the lord. 

How webs were wove from fibre foul, 

And all night 's rank miasma stole 
Forth from where wild weird land-sharks howl, 

And spread their vapors o'er the soul; 

And day 's fierce heat came down through clouds, 
That black - er grew, and towers fell down, 

And gates flew wide, and all in crowds 
The hall was emptied on the town; 

And wood and field somehow were done, 
By porters, chamberlains and cooks, 

And pandemonium begun 
Found portraiture in all their looks. 



214 l-V ENIGMA. 

But aever yel have Reynard's bark 
Or gabbling geese destroyed a world; 

Ami never dropped a night so 'lark. 
And never webs were wove or curled, 



But sunrise bright and moving life 
On forward march dispelled them all. 

So falsehood'- fumes, though raging rife, 
Before the light of truth must fall; 

And never vet up s 

Of forward life's excelsior, 
Weary and wan a brave one went. 

But ere they tell some angel for 

Them came, and pointing 14. the b 
By paths made smooth for weary feet, 

or spirit pinions winged with light, 
Brought them to victory comp 

To him, surrounded by the scourge 
Of elements at midnight time 

(X lite, and .'ii the v.T\ 

.»f cliffs which he can scarcely climb, 



AN ENIGMA. 215 

Where wailing wind and sifting snow 
And forest wild obscured the light. 

Mid defiles dark that downward go 
To direful depths of blackest night. 

An angel 's fairy presence came. 

And pointing upward to the sky, 
To where shall ever shine her name, 

Excelsior, she said, "Here I, 

" Through tangled wilds all tempest torn, 
In answer to your prayer have come, 

With smiles of love to lead you on 
Unto Excelsior, my home.-' 



And now, as hand in hand they press 
Still on, and ever upward climb, 

Dark days are daily growing less, 
For they have toiled to heights sublime, 



216 ./.V ENIGMA. 

Wliere never since love Bret embraced 

Eta tcllow love — husband or wife — 
Has portraiture of love been traced 
In fairer form for any life. 

Ah well ! 't is worth a score of year-, 
Tempestuous tossed on life 's abyss, 

Amid a flooding tide of tears, 
To win the bliss of love like this. 



Peruse, ye reader, all my 

And sift its hardly hidden thought. 
And should you really read the wrong 

Some curious circumstance has wrought, 

Discern the gaudy peacock plumes 
Some would-be bird of paradise. 

While flaunting in your face, assumes 
A.s his insignia for the skies; 



AN ENIGMA. 217 

Then know, the angel one who makes, 

Our hero's life so full, complete, 
The opening of her earth-life dates 

July sixteen, on Salem street, 



In eighteen hundred fifty-seven; 

And mid the chaos of the shrines 
Passed through their ruins to the heaven 

Of love, faint pictured in these lines, 



By simply writing, friend of mine, 
And something more — untold — I ween, 

In eighteen hundred seventy-nine, 
At Worcester — sent July sixteen. 



•^ft^ 



THE PROBLEM OF LIFE. 



THE PROBLEM OF LIFE. 

Back along the lapse of ages, 
Among the prehistoric pages, 
The ancient garnering of the years, 
The gathered cycles of the spheres, 
Where circumstance continuous wrote, 
Fantastic fancies freely float ; 

And mid the hieroglyphic signs 
Past time has traced upon those lines, 
May gain, retain, some gem of thought, 

Which shall reveal how, when or where, 
By chaos, chance or cosmos wrought, 

Man's pulsing life was quickened there. 

That thousand titled tale to tell, 
How Passions, Powers and Graces stole 

Into, or did some force compel, 
Their wondrous union in the soul. 



222 THE PROBLEM OF LIFE. 

Give answer to such thoughts as this, 
How Passions wild with Graces fair 

United, gender thrills of bliss, 

Unknown but where such unions are. 



'Tis midday, and upon the hills 

Are resting myriad glory shades 
Of color, which the sun distils 

Where " Indian summer days " are laid. 

Upon the grassy bank reclining, 
That bounds a crystal streamlet "s now, 

To oblivion resigning 
* Those curious thoughts which come and go 

As do cloud-like shadows Hitting 
In swift succession o'er the lea, 

Which, upon the hillside sitting, 
We see shift momentarily: 

Enraptured by the glorii s 

The beauty of the near-by a© 

The mystic glamour thai o'erepread 

The mountain, plain and valley's bed; 



THE PROBLEM OF LIFE. 223 

Enwouncl with tiny films of dreams, 

Half sleep had woven round the soul ; 
Transported by these varied gleams 

That through such subtle channels stole, 
Pouring the volume of their streams 

In floods of fancy o'er my soul; 
Until this perfect autumn day, 

Its lights, its shades, its balmy air, 
The pleasant bank whereon I lay, • 

The sparkling crystal streamlet there, 
The distant hillside 's azure sheen, 
The clearness of the nearer scene, 
That perfect all — earth, air and sky' — 
Became oblivious to the eye. 

While back along the ages' lapse, 
Through fancy 's medium, was seen 

The primaLorigin, perhaps, 
Of man: fair Eden's storied scene. 

The valley 's counterpart was there, 
The mountain side, the shady glen, 

The balmy softness of the air 
Enshrouding my reposure, when 



224 THE PROBLEM OF LIFE. 

These streams of fancies gliding in 
Filled all my soul where fact had been. 

There radiant in my fairy dream, 
At ease reclining by the stream, 
And beating with life 's pulses warm, 
Behold, a perfect human form : 

Perfect the shape of every part. 
Perfect the pulsing of the heart : 
Perfect in all that earth car 
A soul — a perfect place to live. 

But whether by command divine 

This type of loveliness was formed, 
And — crowning climax of design — 

With His own life its pulses warmed; 
Or whether, as some savants say. 

Affinities just right were there 
To mold component parts of clay 

Into a form so perfect, fair, 
That with electric force combined 
Could take or make a human mind : 
Or whether, through the ages' lapse, 

It Blowly by selection grew, 
From "lit of protoplasm perhaps, 

According to its life's demand-: 



THE PROBLEM OF LIFE. 225 

Losing to-day its claws, its tail, 
Perchance to-morrow gaining hands, 

But never with each change would fail 
To rise to some more perfect plane 
Of life — some slight advantage gain. 

To these my vision did not reach, 

Nor philosophic theory teach, 

But plainly showed this model man, 

In all that makes his form, or can, 

Because of life, adorn its whole, 

Without addition of a soul, 

Whose passions, powers and graces, that, 

No matter how obtained at first, 
By chaos, chance or God 's fiat, 

Come to us all — the best, the worst ; 
Of this life 's accretions the whole, 
The make, or maker, of the soul. 

And there upon my vision 's field 

Were Graces, Passions, Powers revealed, 

Which in successive ages since, 

Pursuant sleuth-hounds of man 's soul, 
From where his infant ways commenced 

Have ever followed to life 's goal. 



THE PROBLEM OF LIFE. 

To this fair form they all had come 
To take or make themselves a home. 
There each expected on the throne 
iud rule this form alone. 

Bat knowing only one could be 
Acknowledged supreme majesty, 

11 agreed this man might place 
His choice of Passion, Power or Grace 
Thereon; but each reserved the right 
Through skill, or - nd or sight, 

To force all other claimant- down 
And through man's will secure the crown. 



If I should fail to show the Bkill, 

Rare sights and sounds they there displayed 
To win this first of all oui 

To render each the claim- they m 
should fail to tell all you expect, 
1 trust that you will recollect 
That only visions, day-dreams — 
Like unto oft recuri 



THE PROBLEM OF LIFE. 227 

From the watch-tower 's revolving light, 

Upon some danger-rock at night — 

Assisted likewise by the sum 

Of life 's experience that has come 

To me in years that intervene 

Childhood and manhood 's time between — 

That these this poem's source have been. 

O'erlook all faults, fair readers, then, 

If in your judgment I have done 
A foolish thing, nor credit won 

By sketching in rhythmatic rhyme 
A panorama of the war 

On battle-field of souls through time, 
And countersign Excelsior. 



But mark, as ages onward roll 
The warfare rages in each soul 
Which Chaos, Chance or Cosmos brings 

Through Life 's gateway, by all forgot, 
From shadow of oblivion 's wings 

To substance of the coming — What? 



THE PROBLEM <>/■ LIFE. 

But listen ! Do you hear those Btraina 

Of witching melody afloat 
On high? And hark, they Bound again - 

An added sweetness in each note; 

While chiming, like a crystal bell, 
With perfect cadence — " All is well.'* 

Anon, afar among the trees 
You hear the rustle of the breeze 
Whispering sweet nothings to the • 
And nearer by, you do not know 
From whence they come, above, below, 
Those rapturous chords are sounding, 
From the insect choirs abounding 
In myriad millions in the air. 
Too small for our discerning then-. 

And then the floods of melody. 
In accents wild and free, that come 

From throats of Bong-birds, that may be 
Thus only calling birdlings home. 

There songs of busy bees are beard. 

Telling of treasure-laden tuii 
And richly plumaged bumming birds 

Make errie music with their -.. 



THE PROBLEM OF LIFE. 229 

But words of mine can never tell 
Half the entrancing sounds that fell 
With perfect harmony and rhythm ; 
Paraphrase cannot portray them. 



I only know that Music gave 
Such perfect chords and harmonies, 

That every grace became the slave 
Of her entrancing melodies. 

That ere each rapturous song was done, 
Commenced a wilder, sweeter one, 
Till all the earth and air resound 
And thrill with sweet concentrate sound. 



That just as waves which inward roll 

Are lost in surf upon the shore, 
These cloud-like waves sweep o'er the soul, 

Become but surf, then are no more ; 
Except that each leaves only this, 

An increased ecstasy of bliss ; 
Until it seems the crown must be 

Sweet Music 's lawful property. 



THE PROBLEM OF LIFE. 

Now tones of sweetest cadence rise — 

Now fade away upon the breeze — 
As sweet as soft aeoliaD sighs, 

Or zephyrs whispering through the leaves; 
And wafted with each tone, some w 
Of this exultant Bong was heard: 



Most beauteous one ! Exquisite form I 

Oh, let there be 
A perfect bond of friendship warm 

'Twixt thee and me. 

With open gates admit thy queen 

Onto the throne; 
By Passions, Powers and I 

To rule alone. 

This world is bleak, but, with 

Thou shalt be blest 
With glorious Bongs of oightii \ 

Bringing thee rest 



THE PROBLEM OF LIFE. 231 

The wild, discordant thunder's roar, 

The earthquake 's shock, 
The rush of waves upon the shore 

Of barren rock, 

And all life 's minor sounds, whose sum 

Strange discord make, 
Shall sweetest symphonies become 

For thy dear sake. 



But Music 's song was scarcely done 
When Mirth — who had advantage won 
Because incongruous tones, alone 
When starting, had together flown — 
Commenced, with most consummate art, 
To gaily sing this burlesque part : 



232 THE PROBLEM OF LIFE. 

When we shall meet, in union bwi 
Upon .some seal 

By sylvan Bpring, then -hall I Bing: 

Y"ii are my king 

And I your queen; no other - 
Has royal mien. 

Though earth is bleak, electric freak. 
Each Btartling Bqueak 

Of opening door, the tempest 's roar 
Upon the shore 

Of hardest rock, the earthquake's ahock, 

The crow of cock, 

Shall melody become for thee 
Eternally. 

And with each gale shall never fail 
Some nightingale, 

Within thy heart, with wondrous art. 

-art. 



THE PROBLEM OF LIFE. 

Would I had power of language fine 
To laugh like Mirth between the lines. 
But skill of mirth evades all art; 
She merely touches in the heart 
Some hidden spring, and every door, 
Time locked, flies open with a roar. 



When on some breezy day in June 
We ramble through the fields at noon, 
Where birch and alder branches blow, 
Across where rippling waters flow, 
The songs of all the birds that dwell 
In wood or field, on hill, in dell, 

Break on the ear; successive notes 
Of black-bird, thrush and plaintive wren, 

Strange medleys from the bobolink 's throat, 
And e'en the craiking of the hen; 
The distant cawing of the crows, 
And those sweet songs that each one knows 
Which blue-birds sing when winter breaks ; 
The joyous strain the robin makes, 



234 THE PROBLEM Of LIFE. 

And endless chains of notes v.. 
Which sound all foreign to th< 

Startled we peer amid the lea 

Now here, now there, as Bhifts the breeze. 
Wondering, amid such wealth of I 
We cannot tell from whence they come; 
Cannot discern as hither blown 
The feathered ones they started from. 

But look, amid the leaves low down, 
Then- sits and sings a thrasher brown. 
All these exquisite songs have from 
This unpretentious thrasher come; 
Who imitates the every tone 
That other Bongsters think their own. 
So perfectly we do not know- 
But from originals they How. 
Yet mixed by him in Bucb a muss 
They sometimes seem jusl ludicrous. 

So Mirth amid fine language hid, 
That wondrous grace given t" our race. 
In turn shall miin 
Their very look, and act. and I 



THE PROBLEM OF LIFE, 235 

Until what we had thought to be 
Original sublimity, 
Because we see the maker 's fuss, 
Becomes as much ridiculous. 



Then Alimentiveness assailed, 

Aniativeness its meshes spread, 
To win where Mirth and Music failed ; 

And not content with giving bread 
To furnish strength whereby to live 

Maintained that life to man is given 
To take, enjoy all life can give, 

To find all earth can grant of heaven 
In food and drink and woman's smiles 
And wanton acts and wicked wiles. 



It were not needed here to show 
What all with certainty must know — 
That letting passions given to man 
To gain, sustain and reproduce 



THE PROBLEM OF LIFE. 

Tlii- life of ours, do what w<- can 
To life 'a true boui Impart 

To each aspiring human heart — 
That letting these become the end 

Instead of glorious source of life, 
Eventually must always tend 

To pain instead of bliss in life; 
And that the fruit which Adam ate 

From off life 's knowledge tree so fair, 
Trusting to reach the God-like state 

Because of promise to him thi 
Was only passion used ai 
To gain this earth 's forbidden 
And thus -in 's foul miasma Btole 
[nto this perfect living soul. 



Thus Adam fell, and SO within 
Pierce agonies of u r uilt there 

And Eve, his counterpart In Bin, 
Shall dark remorse forever -hare. 



THE PROBLEM OF LIFE. 

Now as we trace the ebb and flow 

Of feeling, fancy, passion, grace, 
And all the various gifts we know 

Each individual of the race 
In some degree must actuate, 

We may perchance discover what. 
If aught, our souls may permeate, 

That perfect bliss shall be our lot. 



Did ye ever see an eagle 

From its eyrie rock descending 

Upon its prey? Note the struggle 
Of its victim when ascending? 

Or standing on some mountain 's height 
Above dark clouds that roll below, 

Didst see the wind 's and lightning's flight 
Destroy all beauty where they go ? 

Thus imagine Hate descending 
Unto this glorious form for prey — 

Note the blight that he is sending 
Where all was fair but yesterday. 



238 THE PROBLEM OP LIFE. 

If ye have Sver felt bate 's grasp 

Closing around your Btr 
All vain your efforts to unclasp 

It< fastening, or Its folds unroll, 
Y< need not speculate, ye know 

That wrecks lie thick where hate has been; 
And perhaps have learned th 

In life '> hard experiei 
Thai hate wounds deepest the person 

Who would wield it — the greater fooL 



Bui listen to the words that from 
This passion to this form have 

And ye amid this world 's beauties 
Eave thoughl eternally to roam ; 

With love's, mirth's and music's duties 
And appetites surcharged, have home. 

But kn«»w these | fair 

shali never yield you pleasure here; 
1 have a fund of hate In 
Enough to palsy them, aye mi 



THE PROBLEM OF LIFE. 239 

Ye all shall yet with grief bewail 
Ye ever met me in this vale, 
For I have sworn an oath to try- 
To wound, destroy or cause to die, 
All those bright hopes which any may 
Ever indulge of endless day, 
Where they can sip of pleasures sweet — 
Quaff from life's goblet bliss complete. 

And then with glance that gleamed like fire, 
A mixture fierce of gloom and ire, 
And sullen wrath so fierce, so — well, 
It spake yet more than words can tell — 
He cursed them all with oaths so sere 

I will not stain this poem 's page, 
Or strain with pain the reader 's ear 

Their full import to gain or gauge ; 
But hope our lives may never lead 
Where hate will rule our thought and deed. 



Next green-eyed Jealousy arose 

And swept o'er Adam 's storm-tossed soul, 
Fleet as an arrow onward goes 

Until it strike and pierce its goal. 



240 THE PROBLEM OP LIFE 

said that aone spake any word 
That thrilled in her an bord ; 

Jealousy is the only one 
Who can be found beneath the son 
Who has no faithful bosom friend 
To whom they can with safety lend 
Their Becrets and not have them told, 
So they may yield an hundred fold 
Of malice, scorn and gilded lies, 
Replete as dragon flies with i 

They all were seeking for theii 

Nor cared how, when or where were Mown 

Th<' rosee Bhe had hoped mighl 

Alonu; her pathway here below; 

To win a crown Bhe would not Btrive, 

For all her powers were bound with - 

Some may profess to wish SI 
To rest with me and my add: 
let probably I -hall not be 

ad their Bight before thej 
( >r think they And in what they 1»' 
Some wrong or Idle word somewh< 

In Mitli a way thai an; 

< an -re they Wish SOUie aCtiOll 



THE PROBLEM OF LIFE. 

To rank uie with infernal sprites, 

Who, fallen from imperial heights, 

Diverted on their downward course 

By some resistless magnet 's force, 

And by the swiftness of the fall 

Bereft of every charm and all 

The grace and beauty that were theirs 

While dwelling in celestial spheres, 

Now only live to poison bliss, 

Yet found in some by-paths of tbis. 

I never nursed a friendship dear 
But with its consummation near, 
Conflicting loves were sure to rise 
And bear away my wished-for prize. 

I never strove with patient toil 
To win the rigbt to trust and fame, 

But all my efforts would recoil 
And yield some other one the same. 

I never wooed a maiden 's heart 
But when she knew that mine was won 

And safely pinioned with the dart 
That Cupid 's bended bow had thrown, 



242 ////-. PROBLEM OF LIFE. 

She then would stoop - where 

Deauty, wealth or fame 
mbined with reputation fair, 
< )t '•■'■ii the Blightesl chance m 

To win that woman's valued prize — 
■ ■ glance from admiring 



But lo I a fairer grace app< 

Sweel Eope, thy ra hear, 

In accents clear, so rich, bo rare, 

the mellow air, 
Like crystal tone- old Time has given 
the old, new way to heaven. 

And, as o'er 111. in 's impassioned ^<>ul 
Her crystal tones in wave-chords roll, 
The green-eyed monster <i l ''''l< dep u 

Brighl Eope Steps in and sways man 'a ln-art, 

And sweetly says —Must thi> I 
That we care oot for otl 

to in'- the world Is bri| 
N - iraed by Bharie, nor marred bj 



THE PROBLEM OF LIFE. 243 

Its tones are keyed in accents sweet 
To scenes of bliss we oft shall meet 
While dwelling in a world like this. 
Kind words, dear friends, caress and kiss, 
All prove a source of joy complete, 
Forever present, ever sweet. 

Think not that bitter all shall be 
The fruit that time shall yield to thee, 
But know that sweet, as well as sour, 
Awaits our tasting, hour by hour; 
For time life 's pathway oft has strewn 
With blossoms that from hope have blown, 
And there are many buds to bloom 
For us; light shall illume life 's gloom, 
Shall shine athwart our lives and make 
Dark doubt retreat, sweet hope awake, 
And yield a harvest rich in bliss- 
ful hours along the years of this. 

And then the hope, sweet hope, that life 
Extends beyond this lower life ; 
That in some realm celestial, fair, 
Where all pure spirits gathered are, 



THE PROBLEM Of LIFE 

Life's full elixir we may l 

And free from doubl and care and p 

Beneath lif< 

Where evil thought* 

There with earth 's pains and tasks all done, 
Rejoice because lit'- 's resl is won. 

Sometimes when lite seems bright and elear, 
As I stand near its 

I lose all thought of what i.» 1 
And only note the joys that wait 

Our taking in th ; air 

That by the holy city lie: 

To hear th.' sounds and breathe the ail- 
That wait us in the hy-and-hy. 

Though rugged mounts and da: 
We toiling travere shore, 

Though burning -and- and wn 
We all shall meet yel more and m< 

Ami mid Bhadows <>f th.' valley 
Of death, our life 's forces rally. 
W< sometime may reach th.- fair he i 
Where tin- i 



THE PROBLEM OF LIFE. 245 

Perceive in the distance the lights, 

Catch tones from that beautiful land, 
Which is, through faith's intuition, 
Known as life 's perfect fruition. 



But see, who now is drawing near 

As Hope concludes ? Ah, it is Fear, 

Who dared while Hope with burning speech 

Spake of the life she hoped to reach, 

To venture out from where was made 

His dismal lair, in deepest shade ; 

And like as mists at set of sun 

Arise and veil what day has done, 

Gathering thickest everywhere 

The earth 's most verdant valleys are, 

So Fear arose, unseen, and stole 

Like night 's miasma o'er the soul, 

Completely veiling all the light 

By Hope transmitted to his sight; 

Fearful stood with quivering form, 

Like aspen leaves before the storm ; 



THE PROBLEM 01 LIFE. 

Dared uot to look at aught around, 

But Btande with gaze fixed on the ground, 

Until then- breaks upon b 

Murmur of other passions near: 

Then .-ill his being takes alarm 

At Bome imagined thing of harm, 

And hurries back, on fleet feet 

Into the darkness all al< 

To muse upon the dism; 

Reserved for him through others 1 hate. 



These arc hia thoughts when by hit] - 

I would forego all power, all wealth. 

All this world's honor and renown, 
If all alone I might -it down 
To real my weary self in p 
Bui ii" ! my fears shall i 

ive me on through life's dark i 
Until Its retribution da; 
Thru. oh. the dread, the mortal dread- 
It presses like a w< id — 
Thai Scorn I Jealousy 
Will follow to ct.rnity. 



THE -PROBLEM OF LIFE. 247 

And whelm me in a gulf of pain 
From which I ne'er shall rise again. 

O Mercy ! Save me from them now, 

For Hell itself can yield no woe 
Equal to those that seize me now. 

O Mercy ! Save me, save me, do. 



Just then, beneath the wail of woe 
From this fair soul, began the flow 
Of that invidious wanton 's wrongs 
Who claims the more the less belongs ; 
Envy her name, and hour by hour 

She comes to those who self alone 
Desire to raise to place or power; 

And cannot bear that odors blown, 
Freely for the use of any, 

Or Music 's measures sweetly moved 
And tuned to joy the hearts of many, 

Should be by other beings loved ; 
Nor gift, nor gem that any one 

May have or gain and dearly prize, 
But she, who not an act has done 

To win, shall see with envious eyes. 



248 THE PROBLEM <>l LIFE. 

Her voice, to man before unknown, 

\ - the first alluring word; 

Desires to rale upon the thrt 

Be smart, be famous, be absurd; 
Gain all the treasures on the brink 
Of lift-'- horizon, though they sink 
Beyond reclaim the human bark 
With which she Bails the unknown dark. 

Nor star may Bhine, nor flower may bloom 

To glow and Bcent Borne Bweet retreat 
With silver light and rich perfume, 

But Envy glides on fa 
T" in-art of each adm 

Sugge>tiiiL r that 't were 
And only justice to them d< i 

To write them title deeds of this. 



Nor l rrace, uor rower. warm, 

Which dwells within the human form, 
But Envy claims • 
To Berve as her life-giving leaven. 



THE PROBLEM OF LIFE. 249 

But wild Revenge is coming now 
With hatred stamped upon his brow, 
The dark imprint, I care not how; 
And when he spake, the savage cry 
Of " Hence ye cravens, every one," 
Scorched like a meteoric stone ; 
" For I have sworn by all below 
Not any from this vale shall go 
Until the victor's wreath shall crown 
My triumph over foes struck down , 
And ye have learned my joy in life 
Is gained in waging constant strife ; 
That my life 's hope shall ever rise 
To this : That none may realize 
Aught of the hopes within their breast 
But lose all joy, all peace, all rest." 

Then throwing down his battle gage 
He swore an oath of fiery rage 
That all within this sylvan bower 
Should feel his fierce, consuming power. 

And such a wave, all glowing hot, 
A passion spasm, that I would not 
Endure for all the pearls and gems 
And gold in all the diadems 

17 



250 THE PROBLEM OF LIFE. 

Of sultan, emperor and king, 

Or any material thing, 

Broke [ike a whirlwind o'er bis soul; 

Ami like Bhifting sands, lifted, driven 
Onward by the Birocco's roll, 

Or tough oaks by the lightnings ri 
They all were scattered far and wide 
Beyond the vale; and none l 
Himself were there Revenge could n 
His warfare on, and BO the I 
He raised to break those other wills 
Recoiled tempestuous on his. 

For, as huge waves whose storm-boi i 
Has borne them here from other bo 

Must cause a current that BhalJ Lead 
Their waters back to those same Bh 

So all the evil thoughts we think, 
And all our evil actions done, 

"Within "tir heart- sha -ink 

I'nto the Bource from whence they - 

Bui 'lid I Bay that none had dared. 

To brave his vengeful wrath, or eared 
e such Imps of passion horn 9 
■ here was one — cold, sth 



THE PROBLEM OF LIFE, 251 

Who dared to brave the fiercest glow 

Of passion at the whitest heat 
That hot Revenge can ever show, 

Accept the gage cast at her feet, 
And with sarcasm's cold contempt 
Succeed in foiling each attempt 
Revenge could make in any way 
To stem the tide and win the day; 
For each contemptuous look induced, 

And every scornful gleam of thought, 
Froze deeper than the cold produced 

By freely mixing ice with salt. 

But these were naught compared with those 

Wild waves of scorn that broke e'er long 
Across her soul, and then arose 

In such a burst of scornful song 
jfcs made the very place grow cold 

And freeze and crackle like the ice 
Upon some lake where skaters bold 

Defy at night old Boreas. 

But as a meteor shining bright 
Sweeps onward with resistless force, 

Leaving but traces of its light, 
So only dimly is the course 



THE PROBLEM OF LIFE. 

Of Scorn '8 8 - outlined 

By recollections of the mind : 

And ye daw think the victor's wreath 

Cao flourish green od thy fierce brow, 
When raging passion, underneath, 

Your very soul is blasting now; 

To think that victory can be 
W«>rth anything to bucI 
And dare to ask as to believe 
That vile Revenge could even live; 

Or, if he lived, could still receive 

A crown, when there wa- none t<> give. 

5Tes, r have heard, methinks, 
Of some legend in times of old, 

In which a nymph of beauty : 
Entranced the eye of a Cyclops bold. 

Failing to win the Bought-for priae 
hglance from her i 

He Blew and took her t" hi- home 

T.. adorn hia favorite room, 

Ami wild witli passion, hoi with w 

Labelled with blood, " I mine," 



THE PROBLEM OF LIFE. 253 

And just so much of loveliness, 

Of grace, of beauty and of bliss 

As this poor fool so dearly won, 

May there, when your vile task is done, 

Eemain to you of victory's bliss, 

Labelled with blood " I have won this." 

Oh fool ! to think your crown can shine 
With beauty, when all beauty 's dead; 

Can see fair grace in every line, 
When every trace of grace has fled. 

You dare to think that loveliness 
For you may glow resplendent, fair, 

When all there ever was in this 
Has gone to worlds some other-where ; 

And, more than fool, art hoping now 
The victor's wreath shall deck your brow, 
And also thinking, hoping even, 
That all of hope from earth is driven ; 

Art trusting with implicit faith 

That Passions, Graces every one 
Shall at your crowning be, when Faith 

And every sister Grace is gone. 



THE PROBLEM OP LIFE. 

I sconi thee and defy thi 
For all passions are Immortal; 

grace anto its aatare 1 1 
Changed only by the Eternal 

One who made them, and will keep them 

\ - gen - for Bis < >wn diadem. 



Friends and fair readers, canyon tell 

With what you may employ your powers 
And spend your time with profit, well 
Enjoy and till with bliss your hour-'? 

Bunyan *- pi grim 

this Baying in some hymn — 

And certainly it is UOl had — 

•• Tl. ■. ■•, the more he had ; " 

And whether this be true of gold 

And other lil«' mat. -rial thi: j 
We know a wealth <d joy untold 

And that each silken thread we spin 
Through pit 



THE PROBLEM OF LIFE. 255 

May serve as warp or woof within 

Our robe of life, where it shall glow 
Like priceless gems of perfect grace 
Which in our human hearts find place; 

That though from earth may never rise 
So much of vapor to the skies 
As from old ocean 's watery bed 
Is by the wind and sun 's power led, 
Sometime the willing earth shall gain 
Its portion of the blessed rain, 
Which with sunlight and heat shall bring 
The beauty of the glorious spring. 

So if sweet pity in our lives 
For any woe is free to rise, 
It may from its eternal source 
Increase its volume and its force, 
And to our thirsting souls yet bring 
The graces of the moral spring. 

Yes, Pity, like the dews which from 
Amid the darkness often come, 
Shall all the gloom of moral night 
Illume with rays of dawning light. 



THE PROBLEM OF LIFE. 

J come all | strain 

From words and actions giving 
For, If this world yields any 
That Borrow to our hearts may brii -. 
It i- the wrong which rankles there, 
Until what once was bright and fair. 
By fiercely raging passions torn, 
Is of its native beauty Bhorn. 

Then Let not any voice be heard 
To speak against the weak on< 
Nor any one to Btrike a blow 
To injure people high or low. 

Though strange may Beem a life lik 
I know it is the bouto 
For these, the actions that w< 
The actions thai we do not do, 
Alone can prove as equal to 

Do all which duty rails t<> tie 

Think of the mercy God ha- Bhown 

F<>r all tin- Wrong that ln.ii: 

Leading tin-in upward - 
T<> sing the song of victory -• 



THE PROBLEM OF LIFE. 257 

Then how can we, with mercy given, 
Reject this gift and lose our heaven ; 
For mercy that we will not show 
Can never crown our lives, you know. 



But sharp-eyed Curiosity 
Is coming now, searching to see 
What wonders of the earth and sea 
In this fair Eclen-world may be. 

How quiet o'er the soul she creeps 
And takes possession while it sleeps — 
Softly gliding, as fades the light 
Into deep darkness of the night, 
Or, as at early morning dawn 
Before we know the night has gone — 
Transfusing fancies through its dreams, 
Perhaps but transitory gleams 
Of times before this globe had made 

The first grand circuit of the spheres, 
Or any planet's course was laid 

Far back among the circling years ; 



THE PROBLEM Of LIFE. 

And as the while he wakes from sleep 
The wonder grows, and he would know 

How these same Bpheres their circuit 
Through all the Bpaces where they go; 

And longings wild come surging in 

Like ocean Burf upon the Bhi 
To learn where all of lit'-- 1.. _ 

Or, if it ever was before, 

How transmigration has been made, 
And where, if we forever live, 

Our future course of life is laid, 
( >r what advantage it cai 

leSj < uriosity has power 

To charm our bouIs in weary hours: 

Because Of it, man often stl 

To win the power that know.. 
a nights to Btudy, days to toil, 
burns for years the midnight oil; 

Bi cans* of it he dan-- the heat 
< >f scorching Buns and burning Bands 

At Bummer's solstice, when they i 
At noon in equatorial lands; 



THE PROBLEM OF LIFE. 259 

Will sometimes brave the fiercest cold 

Upon some frozen polar shore, 
Merely for hope to there behold 

Things others had not seen before ; 

Will sail far up above the clouds 

Sustained by only bags of gas ; 
And in exulting throngs will crowd 

To any dark and dangerous pass, 
If only just a glimpse is seen 
Of lands where man has never been. 

He dares to plunge beneath the waves, 

To tread upon the ocean 's floor, 
To live the very life of slaves, 

Walk boldly through the open door 
Straight to the city of the dead, 
If Curiosity be fed. 

What wonder then that this one, who 

Had only just begun to feel 
The wish to know, desire to do, 

Should let this curious fairy steal, 
Without resistance on his part, 

Into possession of his heart. 



860 TUB PROBLEM OF J. ill. 

But 

Of myrtle Leaves to decb her brow, 
For Buch fierce longings only tend 

To make her chances Bmaller now. 



Ah! ye the crown shall never win. 
For to the heart where ye have 
Rare Beauty's form, respli 
Transcendenl grace in every line, 
Is coming now to win the prize 

Ye Passions, Graces, all, arise, 
Salute this glorious, wondrous witch, 
Adorned with gems abounding, rich 
In all imagination 's given 
To any form this side of hea^ 

Not a- I !uriosity came, 

Gliding silently to her work. 
Nor softly as when one would tame 

Borne heart where warring passions lurk, 
But like the lightning 's swift <!■ 
< >n -.in,. ,!, stroying mle 



THE PROBLEM OF LIFE. 261 

Transfixing by a single glance 
And making instant entrance; 
Or as a meteor 's sudden light 
Bursting on darkness of the night, 
With its inimitable sheen 
Of light illuminates the scene: 
So Beauty seems to mankind 's sight 
Quintessence of concentrate light. 

Dazed by the splendor of her ways, 
The brilliant outlines of her form, 

Her ease, her grace and subtle plays 
Of light that came and went, as warm, 

Soft tints of color come and go 
Upon the clouds, or like the flow 
Of those electric waves of light 
Sometimes illuminating night, 

He casts aside all other thought, 

Content if he can worship this 
Fair form, that to his eyes is fraught 

With all earth has of loveliness, 
And, basking in her smiles, forget 
Awhile that life has labor yet. 



262 THE PROBLEM OF LIFE. 

But as the rays thai give as Light, 
And yield the prism 'a glories bright, 
Do also Bometimefl yield a heat 
That Bcorches everything it meets, 

So Beauty 's rays, bright, glorious, fair, 
Scorched all his heart, until despair 
Arose therein and Beethed and bur 

And raged hotter, fiercer than fires 
To which victorious Michael turned 

Apollyon, and to which all liars 
And the beast and the false pi 
According to St. John, shal. 

And like as those who dwell far up 
Upon some lofty mountain 'e 
Know first when heat or cold or wind 
Or calm or any change portend, 
Feeling with keener pain the Bhock 
Because of the adjacent rock, 
And ether in surrounding Bp 
1- all the bulwark for the- p] 

s.i those who charmed by winning grace 
Of form, or features of the I 



THE PROBLEM OF LIFE. 2 

Dwell higher up in realms of bliss, 

Where only fancies go between 
This idol of their loveliness 

And all the great unknown, unseen, 
That, far beyond our visions ken, 
In the far past of time has been, 
At present is, shall ever be 
Known only to Infinity; 

So too shall soonest feel the surge 

Of all the tides that ever roll 
From off life 's most eccentric verge, 

Converging on the human soul ; 
And wilder, fiercer, keener be 
The conflict, because that beauty, 
Like ether round the mountain 's height, 
Affords no bulwark for the right. 

But ye all know when summer's sun 

Has burned the earth and scorched the air, 
Till all that heat can do is done 

Before the smoke and flames appear, 
And life itself seems giving way 

Before the withering tides of heat, 
That swell with each recurring day, 

Until some ebbing tide they meet 



THE PROBLEM OB LIFE. 

Upon the far horizon '8 • 
Which by its drier, cooler air 

Tll<- latent ): 

In clouds, that on their bosom bear 
Electric glowing veins of fire, 

Burning the impure parts av 
When rain descends, the mists rise higher, 

The bow appears, a brighter day 
Breaks with rich promise to otu 
Through fire all things Bhall become i 

And ye have Been the tiny stream 
That babbles on between its hanks. 

Reflecting only scattering beams 
Of life atween ' 

Which, like night Bentries, march th< 

And halt and turn whene'er they n 

( >r mayhap Btopped, when half their 
I- marched, by Borne op] 
Awhile, resume again their v, 
Going, coming through all the day, 
Upward, downward, to left or right) 
Almost veiling the stream from 



THE PROBLEM OF LIFE. 265 

And ye have seen when men have stayed 

The stream until its waters spread 
And all the ranks of grass o'erlaid, 

Covering all the valley 's bed, 
Till some great rain, by adding force 

And volume to its gathering tide, 
Made it resistless in its course, 

That, with one sweep, it cast aside 
All barriers which man had made. 

And lookers on with bated breath 
Beholding wrecks and ruins laid 

On every side, apparent death 
To all of life which nourished there, 
Have said, " How sad a vale so fair, 
Should, by such accident from heaven, 
To perpetual waste be given." 

Have seen again above this waste, 

Fed by the debris that it left, 
A richer harvest in quick haste 

Arise than that of which bereft. 

And so when dark despair has burned 

And scorched the human mind, 
Until its brightest hopes are turned, 

Like summer's hot and withering wind, 

18 



THE PROBLEM "/• LIFE. 

To surging clouds, wh< 

y vengeance come and go in ^wift 
Succession, rising jher, 

Till filled the measure of Its s^nilt : 

And pressing, like the surging 
Of waters that man's skill has damn 
But failed tO hold, will 

All thought but this: My powers are dammed; 
And feel, aye, almost know the pain 
Wrecked souls, on reacl 

May then the DOW of pi 

The way of each despa 

That they may know, as lightnings burn 

The impure parts of air away. 
So fierce despair has power to turn 

The key that ope- the gate of 

That floods which sweep our treasures d 

Beyond where we maj 
May at their ebbing leave behind 

Debris gathered in their flow, 

That in our own or other's held. 

; an abundant harvest yield. 



THE PROBLEM OF LIFE, 267 

Then after Passion, Power and Grace 
Had failed to gain the sought-for place, 
While light and shade of Beauty 's form 

And all those witching strains which fill 
The soul with ecstacy as warm 

As chords from angel Israfil, 

That gain while fading added charm, 
Like distant murmuring of the bees, 

As in the Jayadeva psalm 

They swarm amid the Amra trees ; 

Before as yet were quite forgot 

The various feelings that had stirred 

His soul to such fierce tumult, but 
Were now like far off music heard ; 

Or softer Graces, that had lent 
Such glories as they came and went, 
This world would yield all perfect bliss 
Should they but always glow like this ; 

While many powers that seemed to be 
Just given for some utility, 
To measure distance, time or weight, 
Discern the color, know the heat, 



THE PROBLEM OF LIFE. 

Or realize the differing -' 
i >f change in forces which they meet, 
While these, and all that -ought to r 
d, menials remain. 



" T was then this perfect human form, 
With such magnificence endowed 

Of every grace and passion warm. 
Became vainglorious ami proud; 

While Grace and Beauty, Strength^ - 
Failing alike to mount the throne, 

Became the servants of his will; 
Will ruled upon the throne B 

Bu1 "ft the minister- he chOS€ 

To execute his will, were those 
Who rather ruin should he piled 

In .lark disorder, than the mild 

And gentle ones, who peek to do 
All things equitable and true. 



THE PROBLEM OF LIFE. 

So Pride at present was the one 
By whom Will chose his service done ; 
And Pride said : " Are not all these ours, 
These wondrous Graces, Passions, Powers ? 
Behold, are we not mighty, strong, 
Endowed with all to gods belong ?" 

And with an attitude like this 
And boastings full of many I 's, 

He seemed to claim exclusiveness 
Of swelling to enormous size ; 

And as the moon by borrowed light 
Illumes the earth 's expanse at night, 
And, because of nearness, seems to 
Be most glorious to the view — 

Whilst suns, in size and volumed light 
As much beyond this orb of night 
As are the spans of untold space, 
Between us and their dwelling-place, 
Beyond the measured miles that lie 
This side this mirror in the sky — 
So rays reflected by Pride 's brass 
Attend the brayings of this ass. 



270 THE PROBLEM OP I. III.. 

Through the long night of i- r i. 
About such shrines all fools will d 
Perceiving in Borne [ngersoll — 

ing ray- of Light, 

tiding too, from crown to Bole, 
Among the votaries of night, 

With all the clanging crash of 
And roaring of escaping gas — 
A g >ater than divinity — 
Finite above Infinity. 



Hut Malice follows ci<»i> on Pride — 
indeed, they flourish -id.- by Bide; 
Pride turn- the crank that moves the wheel 
From which the threads of malice reel. 

Sometimes, beneath tl i ive, 

nded on it- slimy bed, 

l thai the billows lave, 
And looking like their detached, d< 
Parts, drifting onward with the tide, 
The cruel devil-fish abide; 



THE PROBLEM OF LIFE. 271 

Watching, waiting, with wondrous will, 

Without e'en the slightest motion . 
To reveal their presence, until 

Some one in old ocean 
Would bathe his aching, weary frame, 

Or searching for some wrecks of old, 
That, midst the tempest, foundering, came 

Down hither, bearing life and gold ; 

Bathing or searching, buoyed by hope, 
Amid the mysteries they grope, 
Until they unsuspecting stand 
Within reach of its myriad hands; 

So slowly, smoothly, silently, 

Their slimy feelers slide around 
Whoever may their victim be, 

That not until securely bound 
And held beyond reclaim within 
Their clasp, does e'en alarm begin. 

Just so proud mortals often go 
In search of joys they claim as theirs, 

Or midst wild wrecks, of which they know,. 
Gone down amid life 's toils and cares, 



TUB PROBLEM OB LIFE. 

Are pleasun 
A~ justly theirs, the treasure-trove 

That among the wrecks is lyii 
Fame, Friendship, Fortune and Fa 

And blinded by the pie 
By glitter of the treasun 
Which they earnestly ai 
They notice not Malic 

r- alow and stealthy way within, 

Until enwound by mall • - 
Those immortal 

Thai each victorious soul has fought 



All ! who thai broods upon bis « 
Nurses dark Malice in his heart, 

Bui feels Remorse withii 
Like i 

ight thai there thai w< 
So proud, bo beautiful, and warm 



THE PROBLEM OE LIFE. 273 

With all passions beating within, 

Was struggling in the slow, sure pressure 
That fain would free the soul from sin ; 

Not because it loves right better, 
But because sin 's heat is burning 

So intensely life 's a burden 
Too heavy for constant turning 

Without hope and without guerdon. 

Did ye ever note the writhing 
Of a serpent 's form when dying, 
And have ye seen that last, last gasp 
That shows us when life's cords unclasp? 

Have ye seen a vessel drifting 

Amid the storm-tossed foaming waves, 
With its masts and rudder missing 

And rolling broadside to the waves ; 
A toy upon the waste of waters 

Wild, at the mercy of the storm, 
Time 's alarm-beat sounding quarters 

With echo tones, the lightning's form? 
Did ye hear the wild entreaty 

And the fierce, almost frantic prayer 
That Omnipotence would pity 

Their condition, protect them there: 



THE PROBLEM OF LI 11.. 

Cut changing, Like the lightning 
To imprecations frantic, wild; 

Cursings thai ofttimes would abash 
The very devil 's blatant child - .' 

Didst note the horror depicu d 
Upon the passion-mirrored I 

See the agony reflected 
Amid supplications 

[f so, ye have eption 

< )i' the horror-puls I look 

Of which Remorse 's reception 
By this glorious form partook. 



Bui close upon Remorse crowds Doubt, 

( lorroding by its acrid air 
The very springs of life, without 

Whose force death reigns triumphal I 
Dispelling lights that make the sum 

Of lit'*' 's expert* 
With flashes that have backward ■■••in<- 

Prom where life 's radii Bhall i 



THE PROBLEM OF LIFE. 275 

There is an elemental force 

Whose universal presence yields 
And keeps life 's currents on their course, 

And yet disintegration wields : 

' T is oxygen, whose force supplies 
Our life, our light, and gives us heat, 

Yet is the agency that lies 
Athwart where life with death shall meet. 

So doubts a double power possess, 
The power to raise to life and light, 

If we are willing to confess 

Our doubt — in earnest seek the right; 

The power to doom us to defeat, 

Corrode and canker all our soul, 
If doubt and ignorance shall meet 

And block the highway to life 's goah 



THE PROBLEM "J- l.ll E. 

But ye have heard that pulsii - d 

Trembling on tin 
Interpretation of whose tone 

Is thought to be the lit umpire 
Of any Btorms or heal 
The coming of the morrow b 

What crystal Btillnesa of the air; 

No stir of leaf m 
To break the Bilence reigning I 

Or veil those pulse-beats aa th< 

»So in my dream that lovely form 
Was veiled in Bilence and re] 

Revealed but pulse-tx 
Of melancholy thoughts thai t - 

And, trembling on its Bensuoua q< 

Prophetic told of dark Dismay- 
That lasl fierce pa 

for Bin, before the day 

Of faith 'a resplendent light shall dawn, 

Btart the bu 
Where 1 

• pain. 



THE PROBLEM OF LIFE. 277 

Malicious Malice ! Do thy utmost will 
Before life 's pulsing currents all are still; 

But know, tlio' doubt, remorse and fierce contempt 
Shall yield a harvest for thy each attempt, 

While seeds of hope upon thy barren soil 
Shall wither and decay, despite life 's toil 

Amid thy rank weeds' pestilential growth, 
Though melancholy and dismay may both 

A wild luxuriance of harvest yield, 
Ungarnered left to seed again the field, 

There yet are graces coming to distill, 
Amid thy wrecks, influences that will 

Scatter anew the seeds of hope, and bring 
After thy reign the sunlight back again ; 

For never yet were ruins piled so high 

Of those wrecked lives that on life 's highway lie, 

Nor ever moral cyclone swept the world 

Of truth, and some false prophet's flag unfurled, 

But love 's celestial ozone was distilled 

To save such souls as otherwise were killed. 



27fi THE PROBLEM 01 LIFE 

What is descending from abi 

All, it is all radiant I. 

Floating dowD through the untold - 

Thia Bide of heaven ; bo full oi 

She seein.s to be of fairer mould 
Than any nymph of whom w 
By ancient hard-. Fair, radiant I. 
All hail ! GrOd '- angel iron. 
Descending to this pass! 
Subduing by thy ; 

But listen! for all perfect, fair, 
Her crystal tones break on th< 

Dark Hate comes forth, and crave] 
And listen with attentil 
Revenge, made mute I 
Humbly kneels at fair I. 
His courage gone, his bravo fled, 
And all the vaunting w 

changed ; his ways as mild, ai 
As those of BOUlS who D 

Conquered by Love's Bubduing ligl 
Illuminating what Is right, 



THE PROBLEM OF LIFE. 279 

Pale Fear came forth from out the gloom 
To learn what now might be her doom; 
If any hopes from love would grow 
For her on earth. We can not know 
What changes daily may take place, 
What passions rule the human race : 
For they are strange and changeful things, 
Whose fancies fleet on restless wings, 
Stay not their course for tide or sun, 
Nor anchor where old time begun, 

But fain would sail on cycled light 
Far back through ages into night, 
And rounding on the other side 
Take, like the sun, a homeward ride ; 
So Fear, from out the gloom of night, 
Was borne to Love 's resplendent light. 

But listen now, methinks I hear 
Her very words as she draws near; 
She says she came from God above, 
The glorious source of truth and love : 

I do not hither come to sound 
My praises to the world around, 
But that I may unto each heart 
Somewhat of heaven 's pure bliss impart; 



THE PROBLEM 01 LIFE. 

I conic as pilot of the soul, 
Through life's wild mazes, to the goal 
Whose climes ol light and Beas of bliss 
ad glooms oi this, 

Oli. did mankind but only know 

What blessings from lov< Bow; 

Oh, could they realize the joy 

That those who Bee it- light enjoy; 

The pun-, unclouded state of 

That reigns in each recipienl I . ■ 

They would not be 

With little joys self-love ran give, 
"Wlim bliss beyond compare Is meant 

As portion for such ones as live 
In close communion with the One 
Who Btyles Himself the loving • 

Ah, yesl Love's joys and bliss outshine 
The puresl gems from earthly mine; 
The glory of the bud at noon, 
The twinkling Btars, the Bhimmerlng moon. 

And all that gloriOQS whole of light 

That Bparkles on creation '> : 
\ dull, beside the glories i>riuht 

And clear Which light L0V€ '8 perfect shrine. 



THE PROBLEM OF LIFE. 281 

Love shall all stormy passions calm, 
Yield to our hearts a healing balm 
For all misfortunes that befall, 
Life 's perfect lustre give us all. 

No vile revenge shall ever go, 
Or hate be, where love 's currents flow ; 
All fears, all wrongs are banished from 
The hearts to which true love has come. 

No dark despair or doubt can be 
With her, nor any jealousy ; 
There all true graces shall abide, 
Pure lustre for love true and tried. 

Ah, who that ever felt the thrill 

Of e'en this life 's ecstatic love, 
But knows perfected love will thrill 

All constant ones with joy above. 

The glory tints of bliss supreme 
That through love's windows on us stream, 
Are but faint glimmerings from love 's source 
Reflected to us in their course. 



--L- THE PROBLEM OF LIFE. 

If dim reflections of l< 

Prom mirrored bouI to mirrored - 
Reveal to as Bach glories bright, 

What BhalJ we feel when pore 
Of light and glory breaks a- 
Our field of vision, and the loss 
Of hopes and friends that we have had. 

Like deepest darkness of the i 
Precedes the morn that mak< - - 

With all it- perfectness and I - 
Aye, more, the certainty that 
Time 's flight shall bring eternal a 



Then Faith, • 1:lil ". 

Came forth to meet and greet then I 

To tell them of the wondrous I 

II. r glorious light reveals to i 
Of brilliant gems her tin 
A :.■ wafting those to duty true. 

She told them of the grtfct white thi 
Where God n 



THE PROBLEM OF LIFE. 283 

Jerusalem, a jasper, bright 

With iridescent crystal light, 

Whose gates of pearl and streets of gold, 

Foundations precious to behold, 

Whose chrysolites with emeralds green, 
Chrysoprasus and topaz seen, 
Amethyst, jacinth, jasper too, 
Chalcedony, beryl, sapphires bright. 
Sardonyx and sardius' pure light, 
Are but shadows of gems within 

Her walls, whose sun and temple are 
Immanuel, who dwells therein. 

No shadow of night can come there ; 
There kings shall bring their riches rare. 
There their glory and honor bear ; 

And on her golden, glorious streets 
No one with any evil meets ; 
For God shall take away all tears, 
All pains, all sorrows and all fears. 

She spake of the river of life, 
Whose crystal waters constant flow 

From out beneath the throne of life ; 
Arched over all God's emerald bow. 



284 THE PROBLEM Of LIFE 

Ami she told of the tree of life, 

• verdant leavea Bhall monthly grow 
A> healing for the nations' strife: 
God 'a magic balm for every woe, 

dd that on that blessed shore 
Life's blighted hopes may bloom once more: 
That o'er that sea of lucid _ 

Which lies before the throne of God, 
Repentant Bonis may freely • 

To worship at the feet of God. 

She told of the thousand yean of biles 

Reserved for those who faithful pi 
Through all the fleeting years of this 

Lit'.' — their first fruits of bliss ab 

She said that eye had i 

That listening ear had never heard, 

The perfect glories thai have been 
Reserved for those who keep God's word 

She said that fancy".- wildest flight, 
Imagination 's utmosl Btretcb, 

H tve never seen the glorious light 
Thai shines for those God 'a statu* 



THE PROBLEM OF LIFE. 285 

You know, of course, these brilliant gems, 
The gold and precious diadems, 
Are graces which adorn the soul 
And pave the way unto that goal, 
Whose climes of light and seas of bliss 
Transmit some rays and drops to this ; 
And know that sea of lucid glass 

Which lies before God 's holy throne 
Is Faith, reflecting as they pass 

To God, devotion souls have shown. 



Go, search for joy through every clime, 
In every land, at every time; 
Scan all the joys this world affords, 
Possessed by servants or by lords, 
Exhausting every source of wealth, 
The springs of fashion and of health ; 
Then try and see what fame can do 
To roll a tide of joy to you ; 
Ride long and far on Science' car 
To utmost verge of further star : 



THE PROBLEM OF LIFE. 

Explore the depths of every sea 

Where any gems of beauty _ 
Go anywhere where joy maj 

Or any whiffs of pleasure blow; 

Ami when the whole extended field 

Shall fail a perfect joy to yield, 

Then roam no more on restli 

Nor listen where such sirens Mnu r . 

But -eek through Faith and Bope tl)-' love 

Our God drops down from he 



But look! The long-waged warfare done, 
The gift descends, the .Town is won: 

No ivy wreath or myrtle gi 

leek the brow when 
But joy, purr joy from <;«>d above 
< tomes down to Faith and Hope and Love, 
Uniting thus these Bisters three 
With crowns of Immortality. 



THE PROBLEM OF LIFE. 287 

Joy forever ! Life 's task is done ; 
The secret's out! This is the stone 
Philosophers so long have sought; 
So clear, so plain, weak ones the thought 
Can comprehend and make it theirs. 
Joy ! Joy ! Once more fair life appears. 

The fruit of life, that Adam might 

Have freely taken in Eden, 
And thus regained the life and light 

Lost through knowing good and evil, 
Can now be had by any one 
Who, with right thoughts and actions done, 
Takes to his heart these sisters three : 
They are the fruits of life's fair tree, 
Whose possession our lives will leaven, 
And crown with perfect joy in heaven . 

Filled with this hope, through faith complete, 

This love that blooms where'er they meet 

To such a crown of perfect joy, 

Let us courageously employ 

Each Power, each Passion and each Grace, 

In such a measure, such a place, 

That they in unison may play, 

Enabling us through life to say — 



288 THE PROBLEM OF LIFE, 

That though the cords are brofa 
That hound our hearts of old ; 

That though the hopes we ch< 
dust and ashes pi 

And all the future we d 

1- 'lark with clouds and gloom, 

While not (-lie ray of light Bhlm 

From off their -ilv.-r side; 

That though far worse than this be true, 
Nor thought nor tongue can I 

And all the far hoita 

Where sight and faith should blend, 

But rolls with darkness deeper far 
Than we have known before- 
Life 's long campaign is ool 
Nor all its battles fought 

Then why in bivouac 1< >hlt« r lie".' 
The bugle call is, "On: " 

Like Arabs, let us fold cur I 
And take th<- forward march; 

Resolving that, while G< 
1- marching us along, 

our march BhaU be an upward 

right on through storm and bo 



THE PROBLEM OF LIFE. 289 

Writing Excelsior so clear, 

In characters of light, 
Upon our flag, that daily floats 

Higher on the mountain side, 
Until, with standard planted firm 

Far up above all clouds, 
Its folds may float in sunlit airs, 

Where breezes soft may fan 
Our aching brow and soothe our soul, 

As others have before — 
So clear that all the world can read 

Excelsior our aim. 

And so, while there are wrongs to right 

Or any crowns to win, 
We will not lay our warfare by, 

Or shrink because some thorns 
Are hid beneath the roses' bloom — 

It is their nature to — 
But trust the upward path we tread 

May yield rich blooms for us ; 
That joys destroyed by desert heats, 

And hopes by wild winds strewn, 
May on life 's highlands fruit once more 

And yield a harvest rare; 



290 THE PROBLEM OF LIFE. 

That though oar ships, which long ago 

Set sail across the sens, 
Return no more — while wailing wi 

And waves that moan and roar, 
Oft speak in telephonic tones 

From wrecks beneath the boj 
Of fortune, friends, fair fame and faith, 

Wound in one common shroud — 
Life's final voyage is no1 yet Bailed, 

Nor all its Beas explored. 

Then why at anchor longer ride, 

With sails and colors furled'.' 
The tide is Betting out I 

The wind blows off the Bhore, 
Eternity lies all beyond; 

Perchance the best of life. 

Th.n hoist the anchor up again, 
slip the lines from shore, 
Spread all our canvas to the bi 

- Bd OUt UpOD the main; 

.1. Bound all their depths, 
where we may. 



THE PROBLEM OF LIFE. 291 

If dark revenge and venomed hate 

Are armor for the right ; 
If mirth can cheer or music soothe 

The soul in trial 's hour; 
If beauty, shining in the face 

Or radiant in the form, 
Can raise our souls to higher planes — 

Make beautiful our Jives ; 
If pity leads to acts of love, 

And scorn but scorch the wrong; 
If envy only lead the soul 

To seek such gems as glow 
And sparkle with like lights of love 

Which other souls have gained ; 
If appetites are used alone 

To purchase life and strength, 
Or place aright the germ where God 

Shall breathe the breath of life, 
That will, as other ones have done, 

Become a living soul; 

If powers that deal with weight and size, 

With color or with sound, 
With any force or property 

With which we have to do, 



292 THE PROBLEM 01 LIFE, 

But give ns knowledge more com] 
Of things we ought to know; 

If pride assist the soul to rise 
To higher planes of thought, 

And we are only proud because 

The glorious God is i . 
If malice aims alone at sin, 

And not its source — some soul : 
If wild remorse but lead the way 

Unto that crystal b 
Where faith with diamond finger points 

Up glory-tinted paths, 
That brighten, broaden, as th< 

Unto Excelsior — 
Into those harvest fields of bliss, 

That yield eternal life; 

If doubt, dismay and fierce contempt, 

Like snows where thawing Buna may shine, 

Shall perish with their vain attempt 
To ruin that fair soul of thine; 

If fear shall never Bhow it- hi 

Except to flee from Bin; 
U jealousy but sting t) ■ 
When evil thougl 



THE PROBLEM OF LIFE. 293 

If curiosity but prompt 

The searching sharp for truth ; 
If labyrinths of dark despair, 

Where we may sometime walk, 
Shall prove but avenues that end 

Where shines still clearer light; 
If duty walks with willing feet 

In paths of righteousness ; 
If hopes we cherish are the bloom 

From buds of duty-loving faith, 
And love the power upon the throne, 

Ordaining duty 's way : 



Then, perfect day for us shall dawn 
While voyaging on our way, 

And the welcome sound of land ahoy 
Shall break upon the ear ; 

And we may land where long-loved friends 

Amid life 's harvest stand, 
And find that hopes we long ago 

Had buried with the past, 



294 THE PROBLEM OB LIFE. 

Like all good seeds have grown ag 

And, in life *> harvest field, 
Find fortune, friends and fruited faith, 

With all perfected povi 

Passions refined, each grace comp 

All perfectly conjoined, 
And crowned with all we dream of joy, 

Increased ten thousand fold, 

ading <>n through cycled bliss 

Till BBon ages end. 

Written in twenty-seven State* and Territorii« and '.n the Pacific ocean. 



'V^ 



A PARAPHRASE. 

Pure river of water of life, 
As clear as crystals are, 

He showed to me, 
Proceeding from the throne of God 

And Immanuel ; 

And in the street of the city 
Holy Jerusalem, 

And on each bank 
Of the river, the tree of life 

Its fruits was yielding; 

Twelve manner of fruits it yielded ; 
Each month was their ripening 

Or perfection, 
And for healing of the nations 

Its leaves provided. 

In that city shall be no curse. 
There is the throne of God 

And of the Lamb, 
And there His servants shall serve Him, 

And shall see His face. 



A PARAPHRASE. 

His nam.- -hall be in their fon 
There, there -hall be qo night, 

Nor candle-light, 
Neither any light of the 9un ; 

God giveth them light: 

And they Bhall reign forevern. 
Ami he said unto me 
ire faithful 
Ami true Bayings. The Lord God of 
The holy prophets 



Did send His angel unto them, 

That His servants might know 
What should be done : 
Behold I am coming quickly: 

1 is the one 



Who keeps the Bayings of this book. 
And I, seeing these ti 
\: '. hearing them, 
Fell down to worship the 
Who Bhowed them to me; 



A PARAPHRASE. 297 

But he said unto me again, 
See that thou do it not ; 

Fellow servant 
I am, of thine and the prophets ; 

Worship only God. 



Seal not the sayings of this book, 
For the time is at hand ; 
Let the unjust 
Be unjust still, and the filthy 
Ones be filthy still, 



All the righteous be righteous still, 
And those who are holy 
Be holy still. 
Behold I am coming quickly, 
Bringing my reward 



To each one as his work shall be : 
Alpha and Omega, 
The beginning 
And ending, the first and the last, 
Speaketh unto thee ; 



./ PARAPHRASE. 

All who are righteous shall I 
With iL'ht to the b 

Eternal life, 
Ami an entrance through tin - 

To Jerusalem. 



Without aiv il 

Whoremongers, mnrdi 
Idolaters, 
Ami whosoever ha 
Or maketh a lie, 



1, Jesus, have senl my ai 
To testify these I 

In the churches: 
I am David 'a root and ofl 

The morning '> bright -tar. 



The Spirit and tl 

Lei him thai hear! 

And may lie COme 

Who la athirst, and I 
The water of life. 



A PARAPHRASE. 299 

I testify to every man 
Who hears the prophetic 
Words of this book, 
That God will add to every one 
Who adds to these things 

The plagues written within this book. 

To him who takes away 

From out this book 

Any words of this prophecy, 

God shall take away 



Out of the book of life his part, 
And his part out of the 
Holy city, 
And from all things which are written 
In this prophecy. 



He who testifieth these things 
Saith, I come soon. Amen. 

So come Lord Jesus. 
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ 

Come to all. Amen. 



INDEX. 



Preface, - 3 

Dedication, ... ^ 

Childhood, - - 9 

To Hannah, - - - 11 

The Forest at Midnight, - - 13. 

Our Harvest of Hopes, - - 15 

A Muse, - - - 17 

Crystallized Drift, ... 19 

A Soliloquy and its Echo, - - 22 

A Similitude, ... 23, 

Fading Hopes, ... 28 

Josephine, ... 29 

Rhythmical Rhombus, - - 32 

Music's Power, 36 

What has Christ done for Thee, - 38 

Tintinnabulations, - - 41 

The Friendly Inn, ... 43, 

In Memory of a Sister, - - 47 

There Shall be Light, - - 50 



3< 12 



To My Brother, 

Sea Love, 

Our Youthful Home, 

To My Mother, 

To M attic, 

The Web of Life, 

A Dream of ! 

Light from Darkness, 

A Memorial, 

Gleams in Dreams, 

To Mary, 

A Song for Mabel and Alice, 

Faith, Hope and Charity, 

The Poet 's Dreams, 

Parallels, 

Acrostic, 

By-gones, 

A Mansion Awaits Thee 

Ellie, 

A Greeting Glee, 
Life, 

ward, 
The Time is Coming, 
Lines accompanying a 1 
Friendship, 

I trical Flashes, 

•sickness, 

An I 

To R. 



INDEX. 303 

PAGE. 

A Border Tale, - - - 125 

Number Fourteen, - - - 128 

Valedictory, - - - 132 

In Memory of J. M. Jackson, - - 134 

A Soldier's Thoughts, - - 136 

The Hopes we Cherish, - - 139 

To Emily, - -. - 143 

Nineteen, - 146 

School Psalm, - - - 147 

Alphabetical Soliloquy, - - 149 

To H. M. C. - - - 151 

Faith in Jesus, - - - 152 

Time, - - - 154 

Reason versus Faith, - - - 155 

Parting, - - - 160 

Nichewaug to Naquag, - - 161 

Lost Love, - - - 163 

'T is Sweet to Remember, - - 165 

The Soul of Man, - - - 167 

Excelsior of Love, - - - 169 

Waiting, - - - 172 

Beauty, - - - 173 

Wishes of Love, - - - 175 

True Love versus Self Love, - - 177 

Funeral Hymn, - - - 180 

The Red, White and Blue, - - 181 

Hardships of Courting, - - 183 

My Mother, - - - 1S5 

Chips for the Basket, - - - 187 

Crossing Over, - - - 191 



INDEX. 

An Enigma, - - *99 

The Problem of Life, - - - --' 

Prelude, 221 ; The Dream, 222; The Human 
Form, 224; Apol e Warfare, 

Music, 228; Mirth, 231; Alimentr. 
Hate, 237; Jealousy, 2395 Hope, 24: 
Envy, 247: Revenge, 249; Scorn, 250; ! 
254; Curiosity, 257; Beauty, 260; Despair, 262; 
Useful Powers, 267; Pride, 268; Malice, 270; 
Remorse, 272; Doubt, 274; Dismay, 276; The 
Warning, 277; Love, 27S; Faith, 2S2; The 
Warfare ended, 2S6; Conclusion, 2S8. 

Paraphrase, 




